Games #15 & 16
ART U Urban Knights (8-6) vs. SF State Gators (7-8)
Friday, February 23, 2018 at 10 a.m. & Noon
San Francisco – SF State Softball Field
Live Stats

ART U DEPARTS CONFERENCE PLAY TO BATTLE SF STATE
After splitting its first two Pacific West Conference games on Monday, Academy of Art Softball faces a familiar non-conference foe in SF State on the road this Friday. The Gators were the first team the Urban Knights defeated this season in an 11-5 final with home run highlights during the Desert Stinger Tournament.

FIRST PITCH
Academy of Art will visit the Gators' SF State Softball Field this Friday, Feb. 23 for a doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m. Live coverage will be available via the links above. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter & Instagram and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
After a big boost to their offense in the PacWest opener against Dominican, ART U has moved to the top of the conference in steals as a team (32) and has also jumped to second in total hits (113) and doubles (19). Defensively, the Knights' pitching staff is first in total innings pitched (95.0), tied for first with eight wins, and are barely third in total strikeouts (75) behind PacWest leader Concordia (77). Still the team's leader both in earned run average (1.52), Brooke Larsen (4-1) picked up her third consecutive PacWest Freshman of the Week honor and is now the conference's leader in total strikeouts (43) and complete games (5). Those 43 strikeouts have her 13th in the country as well. While Larsen has been strong at the plate, hitting .364 with four doubles, it is senior pitcher Brenna Mitchell (1-2) who leads the squad with a .368 batting average, three doubles, and six runs batted in.

Freshman infielder Jayda Alaan, who is hitting .326 and had her first collegiate homer in her most recent at-bat, comes in with the most times hit by a pitch in all of NCAA Division II, having worn it 10 times thus far (six off the program's single-season record of 15). Batting .304 with two homers and eight driven in, freshman catcher Lauryn Henderson is the fourth Urban Knight hitting over .300 while junior infielder Brenna Youngquist holds the team-lead in RBIs (10). Sophomore outfielder Gabi Hirsch has swiped nine bases thus far to rank third in the PacWest in that category.

Larsen (3-1) offered a pair of wins with just one earned run allowed in 14.0 innings of work. She now leads the PacWest in complete games (4) and is second in ERA (0.90), innings pitched (31.0), and strikeouts (30). 

IN THE SWAMP
After seeing the game's momentum shift on back-to-back homers from ART U's Henderson and Klune, SF State dropped the 11-5 result to Academy of Art on Feb. 3 in the Desert Stinger and went on to lose to Central Washington 9-1, but defeat Eastern New Mexico 9-6. The Gators' start to California Collegiate Athletic Association play featured a series victory against Cal State San Marcos and a series loss to Cal State San Bernardino then a sweep of Notre Dame de Namur most recently on Feb. 19. Katie Rohrer is SFSU's offensive leader, hitting .452 with three homers and 14 RBIs, however, pitching has been the Gators' Achilles heel thus far. No hurler has an ERA lower than Sam Drucker's 5.91 offering. The win earlier this year put ART U ahead 9-6 in the all-time series with SF State.

ACADEMY OF ART SPLITS PACWEST TWINBILL WITH DOMINICAN
The Academy of Art University Softball bats remained hot on a chilly Feb. 19 out at Mission Blue Field in the start of Pacific West Conference play. ART U registered 10 hits in the opener which was won 4-3 on a walk-off sacrifice fly hit by three-time PacWest Freshman of the Week pitcher Brooke Larsen. In the nightcap, the Urban Knights posted a season-high 13 hits and nine runs, but it was not enough for a comeback against the Penguins who snuck off with a 10-9 victory after the winning run came to the plate in the seventh inning once again.

LOOKING AHEAD
In its return to PacWest play, Academy of Art will play Holy Names on the road on Sunday, Mar. 4 before heading back to Mission Blue Field to host Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday, Mar. 10.