Game #43
ART U Urban Knights (11-31, 5-19 PacWest) at HNU Hawks (15-26, 6-18 PacWest)
Friday, Apr. 22, 2022 at 2 p.m.
Alameda, Calif. – Pat Bail Field at College of Alameda
Live Stats and Video

Games #44 & 45
ART U Urban Knights (11-31, 5-19 PacWest) at HNU Hawks (15-26, 6-18 PacWest)
Saturday, Apr. 23, 2022 at 2 & 5 p.m.
Alameda, Calif. – Pat Bail Field at College of Alameda
Live Stats and Video

Game #46
ART U Urban Knights (11-31, 5-19 PacWest) at HNU Hawks (15-26, 6-18 PacWest)
Sunday, Apr. 24, 2022 at noon
Alameda, Calif. – Pat Bail Field at College of Alameda
Live Stats and Video

IT'S YOU AGAIN
Making a return to play within the Pacific West Conference, Academy of Art takes the short trip across the Bay Bridge to Alameda where the Urban Knights will face off against Holy Names for the second time in 2022, with this instance coming as a four-game set beginning on Friday.

FIRST PITCH
These four contests will be split across three days, with the series getting underway at 2 p.m. on Friday. There will be a twinbill on Saturday with first pitch times of 2 and 5 p.m., while the series concludes on Sunday beginning at noon. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps. 

KNIGHT WATCH 
Though Academy of Art totaled 17 runs over three games against the No. 6 ranked team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), it was Westmont who would come away with the series win by sweeping all three games, the last two decided by two runs or less. Twice did ART U reach the scoreboard first, but despite taking a lead into the late innings on two different occasions would see the Warriors pull of late-game theatrics. Junior outfielder Ty Conrad posted hits in all three games and was a combined 5-for-12 with four runs scored, three runs batted in, a double and his second home run of the season. 

Through 42 games the Urban Knights are averaging 4.07 runs per contest, scoring a high of 11 runs during a series finale win over Fresno Pacific, but are averaging 5.6 runs per game over their past five games. ART U has recorded double-digit hits a total of 14 times this season, first doing so in back-to-back games beginning with 13 hits in the series finale with Sonoma State in a winning effort, followed by 12 more the next time out in defeat at the hands of HNU in the series opener. Most recently, the Knights have accomplished the feat in six of the past eight games, and just recently set a new season-best in hits in game one against Westmont with 15.

After a 5-for-11 (.455) series with his first homer of the season against Westmont, senior first baseman Vincent Lontz is now the only Urban Knight above the .300 mark as he is hitting .308 (45-for-146), as he has the most hits to go along with 57 total bases, seven doubles, a triple and the dinger. Next up is graduate student outfielder Travis Turney at .285 (41-for-144), posting team-highs in doubles (nine), triples (three) and RBI (22). Also above .300 is redshirt senior middle infielder Dominic Ruggiero at .336 (40-for-119), though he does not mean the minimum threshold to qualify (two plate appearances per game with a minimum of 75 percent of games played). 

Senior right-hander Collin Carriger has been one of the most consistent pitchers on the staff for the Urban Knights, pitching deep into games and logging a 4-7 record along with one save, a 4.53 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, all of which are the best marks on ART U with at least 2.0 innings pitched. His 89.1 innings pitched are the most in the PacWest, and Carriger has totaled an impressive strikeout to walk ratio with 77 punch outs to just 29 walks, with the strikeouts tying for third-most in the conference. Ahead of him on that list is senior righty Cannon Secrist, carving up 90 batters via strikeout for the PacWest lead while issuing just 23 walks. Additionally, Secrist's 77.1 innings pitched rank second in the PacWest behind Carriger, while also falling behind him in ERA at 5.00, a 1.27 WHIP and a 3-8 record. The first ART U save of the year went to sophomore right-hander Dallen Turner, which he notched on Feb. 5 as he preserved the win against Cal State East Bay with a pair of strikeouts. 

KNIGHTS' QUEST
Academy of Art had an up-and-down season in the early going, dropping the season opener to Stanislaus State despite putting up a three-run inning in the middle third of the contest before also losing the first two series of the year against Cal State East Bay and Sonoma State, though the Knights were able to win game three in each of those two sets. While ART U was blanked in the series opener against CSUEB, the tides turned in a doubleheader as the Knights more than quadrupled their season run total with their 13-run output on the final day of the series, highlighted by a seven-run inning that ultimately led to the first win of the year for Academy of Art. Clashing with SSU in a three-game series for the first time since 2017, the Urban Knights' offense was kept in check during game one and limited to just four runs in game two, but would salvage the final game of the series with a pair of three run innings that ultimately led to a 7-1 win.

The first series split of the year would come against Holy Names in non-conference action thanks to a doubleheader sweep on the final day of the set. Propelling ART U to victory was junior outfielder Charles Morgan, who was a combined 6-for-15 (.400) with six runs scored, five RBI, two walks, a double, and three home runs while also leading the PacWest in total bases for the week (16). He is just the fifth Urban Knight in history to have a multi-homer game (last: Noah Daubin; 5/21/21), and his production would earn him recognition from the conference, as he was tabbed as the PacWest Player of the Week on Feb. 21.

Carriger notched his first win in the series-opening upset against No. 23 Concordia by tossing a complete game, striking out an ART U record 16 batters in the process. For his effort, Carriger would be named both the PacWest Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 28) and the NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week (Mar. 1). However, The Eagles would steal the series with three consecutive victories in games 2-4. Though Academy of Art would once again win the series opener the against Biola thanks to the third consecutive game of 10 or more strikeouts from Carriger, it was BU that would take the final three games and deny ART U its first series win of 2022. That would all be followed by a tough four-game series against Azusa Pacific where the Knights averaged just 1.0 run per game, though two of those runs scored on homers by graduate student catcher Ryan Gamboa and Turney.

The Academy of Art bats exploded for a total of 23 runs over four games (5.75 per game average) in a non-conference series against Fresno Pacific, scoring more in that series than their last 11 games combined. It took four extra frames to pull out the win in game one with a 8-7 victory in 13 innings, and after the Sunbirds took the middle games in doubleheader format, ART U closed the series strong with an 11-1 win, their biggest margin of victory this season. One of the primary forces at the plate was Ruggiero, as he was a combined 11-for-19 (.579) with three runs, three RBI, three doubles and two triples. He also set a new ART U record in the opening contest of the series, becoming the first Urban Knight to record two triples in a game.

However, the Knights would go just 1-7 against UH Hilo and Hawaii Pacific on their trip to the Hawaiian Islands, taking only game two of the series with the Vulcans. Homering on the trip was Morgan, as he launched his sixth homer of the year in the final game against HPU, at the time tying the previous Urban Knights record for home runs in a single campaign. After not reaching base in the opening game of the series with Hilo, Turney's streak of reaching base would come to an end at 24 games, as he had reached in every contest beginning in the series finale of the first series of the year against Cal State East Bay. That was a new ART U single-season record, surpassing the previous record of 19 that was set by Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge in 2013 and matched by current teammate Ruggiero in 2021. However, it is still shy of the ART U all-time reached base streak of 31 games set by Thomas Delgadillo across the 2019 and 2020 seasons. 

ART U defeated its highest ranked opponent that they have ever faced not only once, but twice when they took down the No. 3 ranked Sea Lions first in game one and again in game three, earning their third series split of the season. During the series Morgan slugged his seventh and eighth homers of the campaign, setting a new ART U single season record after passing the six that was first accomplished by Chris Vargas during the program's inaugural season in 2009 before Zak May did so again a decade later in 2019. Not only is it a single season record, but is tied for second most in an ART U career. In game two, seven strikeouts helped Secrist set a new Urban Knights single-season record, as his total of 82 strikeouts surpasses the total of 79 set by current ART U assistant coach Nate Gercken during the 2015 campaign. Now with a total of 142 across his three seasons, Secrist is second at ART U in career strikeouts behind only the 196 from Gercken. 

WHAT'S YOUR (HOLY) NAMES?
It has been a long time since these two teams met, with Holy Names having reeled off a five-game winning streak against Biola and Hawaii Pacific immediately after the February non-conference series with Academy of Art. However, HNU has played each of their past eight contests against Fresno Pacific, going just 2-6 over that stretch including being swept in a recent four-game series in Fresno. Much like the Urban Knights, the Hawks rank in the bottom half of nearly all statistical categories in the PacWest, and only crack the top half of the conference in innings pitched (third) and triples (fourth). Leading the way at the dish for the Hawks are Colton Combs and Esai Santos, with Combs batting .351 (10th in the PacWest) with 23 runs, eight doubles and 27 RBI, while Santos has a mark of .342 with a team-leading 34 runs with eight doubles, four triples, and team-best four home runs. Meanwhile, Noah Barros is the ace of the staff as one of the best pitcher in the PacWest, logging a 2.48 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. HIs 87 strikeouts this season are second only to Secrist, and he has walked just 20 batters in 69.0 innings pitched (third most in PacWest). In the all-time series between the two squads, it's ART U in front of HNU by a 32-24 margin, though the Knights have won the previous two games in a series split. 

WARRIORS COME FROM BEHIND TO TOP URBAN KNIGHTS TWICE
Both parts of a Saturday twinbill between Academy of Art baseball and Westmont would see the Warriors use the same formula for success, as the home team pulled off a pair of comebacks despite ART U holding leads in the latter stages of each game. Game one would go the way of Westmont by a 8-7 final in walk-off fashion before following up with a 5-3 win in seven innings after taking their first lead in the sixth. 

ON DECK
It's the final series of the 2022 schedule lying ahead as the Urban Knights will host Fresno Pacific in a four-game set to close out the campaign beginning on Apr. 28, which includes Senior Day on the final day of the season on Saturday, Apr. 30.