IRVINE, Calif. -- In the final week of the conference season for the NorCal Pod, Academy of Art clinched the pod as Holy Names won three of four games against Fresno Pacific to give the Urban Knights the title by a single game.
 
Academy of Art hosted Concordia over the weekend and won one game. Meanwhile, the Urban Knights needed help from Holy Names in order to win the pod title, and the Hawks came through by winning three games to take the series. Noah Barros threw a complete game in the series finale and got three groundouts in the final inning to secure the 3-2 victory.
 
In the Hawai`i Pod, Hawai`i Pacific won four of five games against Hawai`i Hilo to stay alive in the hunt for the pod title. The Sharks now trail by four games with four games left to be scheduled to determine the pod champion. Stone Parker got a rare 11-out save in the finale, allowing just one hit and striking out four batters in 3.2 shutout innings to preserve a 4-3 lead.
 
Concordia won three out of four games against Academy of Art including two one-run victories as well as a win in extra innings as the Eagles improved to 14-13 on the season. In the extra-innings game, Bailey Collins hit a grand slam in the eighth inning as part of the 9-7 win for the Eagles. Concordia will host a four-game set against Academy of Art this week, and Point Loma will play four games against Fresno Pacific. Meanwhile Biola will take on No. 9 Northwest Nazarene in Idaho.
 
Weekly Awards for the week of April 26-May 2
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Noah Blythe, Hawai`i Pacific
UT, Fr., 6-3 -- Santa Clarita, Calif.
Blythe recorded a hit in all five games last week against Hawai`i Hilo and had three multi-hit games as he helped the Sharks win four of five games to stay alive in the hunt for the Hawai`i Pod title. The freshman went 9 for 20 with six RBIs, nine runs, four doubles and a triple. In the third game of the series, he went 3 for 4 with two doubles. Then in the final game of the weekend, he went 2 for 3 with two runs, two RBIs, a double and a triple. Blythe’s performance for the week boosted his batting average to .356 this season.
 
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Collin Carriger, Academy of Art
RHP, Jr., 6-0 -- Fair Oaks, Calif.
Carriger needed just seven innings to strike out 14 batters as he threw a three-hit shutout against Concordia on Friday. The junior faced only 26 batters in the outing and he struck out over half of them to earn the win, 2-0. Carriger scattered three hits and two walks in the game. He struck out four-consecutive batters for his first four outs of the game. He also struck out six batters in a row between the fourth and sixth innings, and finished the game with two more swinging strikeouts.
 
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Gavin Pringle, Hawai`i Pacific
P/INF, Fr., 6-2 -- Duncan, B.C.
Pringle made two outings in last weekend’s games against Hawai`i Hilo and the freshman combined for 4.2 innings pitched with five strikeouts and no runs allowed for two wins to improve to 3-1 on the season with a 3.45 earned run average. Pringle threw three shutout innings with only two hits allowed and two strikeouts on Saturday. Then on Sunday, he got called out of the pen again on short rest to throw 1.2 innings with just one hit allowed and three strikeouts.