Academy of Art took advantage of playing opportunities after weeks of rain, going 4-0 to claim the Team of the Week. ART U’s Koh Maeda was brilliant in one of those wins, tossing seven shutout relief innings to gain Pitcher of the Week. Jesus Hernandez of Holy Names hit an even .500 and drove in six runs to get Player of the Week status.

2023 Results/Schedule
2023 Standings
2023 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Holy Names’ Jesus Hernandez, 1B, Gr., Pittsburg, Calif.                                            
Grad first baseman Jesus Hernandez had a heck of a week as the Hawks took three of four from Fresno Pacific and dropped a decision to Academy of Art. The northern California native went 9-for-18 with four runs scored, six RBI, three doubles and four walks. He went 6-for-9 in Saturday's doubleheader against the Sunbirds. On the season, he is hitting .375 with 15 RBI in 15 games.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art’s Koh Maeda, RHP, Jr., Fukukoa, Japan                                            
First-year Urban Knights pitcher Koh Maeda was terrific in relief in Sunday's win over Menlo. In ART U's 5-4 victory, Maeda came out of the bullpen and pitched seven innings and gave up just three hits and no runs. He fanned three and did not walk or hit a batter. He picked up the win, tossing just 68 efficient pitches with nine fly outs and eight ground outs. At one point in the game, he retired 12 batters in a row. The first-year ART U player is a transfer from Laney College. 

URBAN KNIGHTS WIN FOUR IN A ROW: The PacWest Team of the Week is the ACADEMY OF ART URBAN KNIGHTS. In non-conference games, ART U defeated Holy Names (5-2) and then took three from Menlo by the scores of 5-3, 12-9 and 5-4. Travis Turney led the offense in the four games with a .333 average and two doubles and two RBI. Gabe Henderson scored five times and had a double and a triple. But pitching is where the Urban Knights made the difference. In addition to Koh Maeda’s numbers (see above), Dwyer Lewis picked up a win by tossing five innings with just three hits, no runs and seven strikeouts, while Devan Quesada went seven innings and gave up just two hits, one earned run and he struck out nine Menlo batters. Academy of Art is now 7-7 overall.

PACWEST PLAY BEGINS WITH BIG GAMES ON THE ISLANDS: This week features the first PacWest games of the year for Point Loma, Holy Names, Azusa Pacific and Fresno Pacific. The Sea Lions are on the Big Island for a great early season series with Hawaii Hilo. That begins today (Monday), matching the 10-2 Vulcans against 9-3 Point Loma. APU also starts a four-game series at Hawaii Pacific today, and then later in the week the island teams will swap opponents. Fresno Pacific heads to Biola for a series and Holy Names is at Academy of Art.

POINT LOMA AND HAWAII HILO GO 2-3 IN REGIONAL POLL: Point Loma and Hawaii Hilo sit in spots two and three in this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association west region poll. Cal State San Bernardino stayed at No. 1 and Azusa Pacific stayed at six. The entire poll looks like this. (1) Cal State San Bernardino 13-1, (2) Point Loma 9-3, (3) Hawaii Hilo 10-2, (4) Cal Poly Pomona 10-3, (5) CS Monterey Bay 9-6, (6) Azusa Pacific 7-7, (7) Chico State 7-6, (8) CS Dominguez Hills 9-5, (9) Stanislaus State 10-8, (10) San Francisco State 9-6. RV—Holy Names (10-5), Hawaii Pacific (8-6), Concordia (8-10). 

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Biola was in Hilo for four games, but the two teams were only able to play one contest as rain battered the island. Hilo won, 7-1, to improve to 10-2 on the season and 4-1 in the PacWest….APU played one game, a 5-4 non-conference win over Cal State Dominguez Hills…Concordia took two of three from Hawaii Pacific with the fourth game rained out and cancelled….Point Loma played one non-conference game, blasting San Diego Christian, 18-1. Bryson Hashimoto hit two home runs in the contest…Concordia’s Michael Dixon hit .545 in CUI’s series at HPU with four RBI…Jake Guzman hit the ball at a .417 clip for Holy Names…Jared Aguilar hit .400 and drove in five runs for Fresno Pacific…Concordia’s Riley O’Sullivan had another strong outing, pitching nine complete innings against the Sharks, allowing just two runs, seven hits and he fanned two.