FRESNO, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific baseball team picked up two more wins on Tuesday, walking off against Academy of Art for an 8-7 victory before winning a slugfest 14-10 in the nightcap. The Sunbirds lead the series 3-0 and now have a chance to end the season with a PacWest Conference series sweep.  
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP: 
Game 1: FPU 8, ARTU 7
Game 2: FPU 14, ARTU 10 
Records: FPU (20-25, 16-15 PacWest), ARTU (17-28, 6-24 PacWest)
Location: FPU Diamond | Fresno, Calif.
Series: FPU leads 25-6
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• An RBI groundout and a two-out error helped the Sunbirds start the scoring in the first inning, but the Urban Knights scratched across their first run with a sac fly the following inning.
• ARTU first baseman Josh Carlin singled home a run to tie the game at 2-2 in the third, but the Blue and Orange were able to answer with a big frame. 
• Brian Hefner's infield single plated a run, and Matt McGrady lifted his first career home run two batters later to make it a 5-2 FPU edge.    
• The Urban Knights got the bulk of their offense in the middle innings, striking for five runs between the fourth and sixth to take their first lead of the day.
• Hefner came in to score on a throwing error in the home eighth to bring the Sunbirds back within a run, but FPU wasn't done.
• Michael Warkentin was hit by a pitch with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and Nick Dodd's infield single allowed him to get to third.
• Tristen Alvarez was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Academy of Art went to the bullpen for the first time.
• Jared Aguilar came to the plate with the home team down a run, but a single to center was enough to plate the winning run from second base.  
• The Sunbirds opened the scoring in a big way in the nightcap, striking for six runs in just the second inning to take what looked to be a commanding lead early.
• Academy of Art answered with a four-run top of the third, however, cutting the deficit back to two runs.
• In an almost identical result as the walk-off hit, Aguilar singled to center to plate two runs in the fourth, pushing FPU's lead to 8-4.
• The Urban Knights pushed one run across in the top of the fifth to stay within striking distance, but FPU followed up with their second six-run inning of the day to put the game out of reach. 
• ARTU picked up five runs over the final two innings to keep things interesting, but a soft pop-up ended the threat to give FPU its' third victory of the series.    
      
STATS FROM THE DAY
• Dodd and Hefner each posted multi-hit games in the opener, while Aguilar and McGrady were credited with multiple RBI.   
• Warkentin and Dodds combined for six base hits and five RBI in the nightcap.
• Tyler Rumbaugh picked up the first win of the day for FPU after delivering 3.2 innings and picking up three strikeouts out of the bullpen. He was the only Sunbird with a scoreless outing on Tuesday. 
 
BEYOND THE BOX:
• FPU has scored first in all three games of the series.
• If Azusa Pacific sweeps a doubleheader from Point Loma on Wednesday as they did on Tuesday and the Sunbirds win the finale against ARTU, FPU will finish the season in third place in the PacWest Conference standings.  
• Aguilar has now reached base in 15 straight games, the longest streak of any FPU player this season.  
 
SOCIAL:
• Twitter - @fpusunbirds
• Instagram - @fpusunbirds 
• Facebook - /FPUathletics
 
UP NEXT:
• The Sunbirds and Urban Knights wrap up the series on Wednesday with the final game of the year for both teams. First pitch from FPU Diamond is scheduled for noon.