FRESNO, Calif.  – The Fresno Pacific University baseball team dropped both games of a twin bill on Friday, falling 7-3 in the opener before dropping the nightcap by a final of 7-6 in ten innings.

The Sunbirds struck first on Friday afternoon, plating two runs in the first inning behind hits from Baron Bower and Hunter Villanueva. The offense sputtered for the rest of the game, and a three-run top of the eighth helped lift the Urban Knights to victory.

Starter Luke Lacy gave Art U seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits while fanning five and walking three. Jacob Green was the first man out of the AAU bullpen for the day, tossing the final two innings to put the finishing touches on the team's first win of the series.

Righthander Jonathan Molina went six innings for the Sunbirds, surrendering just one earned run. Reliever Carson Schellenberg's first inning was near perfect, but the wheels came off in his second frame, forcing Nic Garcia to pick up the final four outs.

Offensively, leadoff man Michael Warkentin contributed two of the eight FPU hits, while Bower drove in two runs and scored once himself. Eight different Urban Knights recorded a base hit, and first baseman Erick Luna was the driving force of the offense with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate.

Runs came in pairs for most of the nightcap, as Academy of art scored two runs in the first, third and seventh frames. FPU countered with two runs in the second, third and sixth but left the winning run aboard in each of the final four stanzas.

Warkentin launched his first home run of the year in the loss, joining Villanueva and Jarrett Anton as Sunbirds with a multi-hit contest. Art U second baseman Michael Maleski went 4-for-6 to lead the Urban Knights, including what proved to be the game-winning single in the top of the tenth inning.

Southpaw Tyler Rumbaugh was roughed up for four earned runs on seven base hits through just 2.2 innings of work, and reliever Tanner Irwin picked up the slack over the next 3.1 chapters. Two soft singles brought closer Matt Bergandi into the game in the seventh, but both came in to score to help send the game to extras.

Bergandi was in command for most of his four innings, but the righthander took the loss after Maleski singled in Cameron Jones to move in front 7-6. Warkentin followed a two-out walk with a single through the right side in the bottom half to give the Sunbirds a glimpse of hope, but Sal Johnson was able to hang on for the win to give AAU the doubleheader sweep.

The Sunbirds and Urban Knights are set to wrap up the series on Saturday afternoon, when FPU will look to earn the split. First pitch from FPU Diamond is schedule for 12:00 p.m.