ALAMEDA, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific University baseball team needed to take two games from Academy of Art on Friday and did just that. The Sunbirds erupted for 18 runs in game one while late-inning heroics from Matt McGrady and dazzling pitching from Jaylen Rodriguez secured game two, as they beat the Urban Knights 18-7 and 3-0. 
 
GAME 1
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Khalid Johnson got the party started with a leadoff home run, putting the Sunbirds up 1-0. 
• After a triple from Andrew Valdez, Matt McGrady drove in a run with a single to center. 
• Donte Valdez led off the second inning with a screaming line drive down the left-field line that got over the wall for his seventh home run of the year. 
• Later in the inning, Tommy Rover blasted a ball over the right-field wall to put the Birds up 4-0. 
• In the sixth inning, Cole Yoshida drove in a run, Kyle Willman was hit by a pitch, and Rover plated two runs with a double to left center before Johnson stepped to the plate. 
• Johnson bashed his fourth home run of the season, this time a three-run shot that put FPU up 11-0. 
• Andrue Lackey drove in two runs with a knock through the left side of the infield. 
• The Sunbirds scored nine runs in the sixth, extending their lead to 13-0.
• Jared Remspecher added some insurance in the seventh inning with a bases-clearing double to put the team up 17-0.
• ARTU attempted to get back into it, but the Sunbirds overwhelmed them to take it 18-7. 

STATS FROM THE GAME

• D. Valdez was excellent at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a run batted in. 
• Johnson led the game with four runs driven in, while Rover and Remspecher brought home three runs each. 
• The Sunbirds mashed 10 extra-base hits, with six doubles, a triple, and three home runs.
• Justin Fuson was fantastic on the mound, going six innings with six strikeouts while allowing just three hits. 
• Syler Pillsbury threw 1.1 innings in relief, with two strikeouts and no earned runs. 

 GAME TWO
 HOW IT HAPPENED

• A pitcher's duel broke out in the second game of the doubleheader on Friday, as the two teams went scoreless through five innings of the seven-inning game. 
• Johnson led the inning off, as an error by the second basemen opened the door for the Birds. 
• Jared Aguilar doubled down the left-field line, putting runners on second and third. 
• Andrew Valdez reached on a fielder's choice, as a ground ball to third base hung Johnson out, as he was tagged out. 
• McGrady stepped in and turned on a 1-1 pitch, launching it over the right-field wall, plating three runs as his first home run of the season could not have happened at a better time.  

 STATS FROM THE GAME

• Rodriguez was sensational for the Sunbirds, throwing a complete game with eight strikeouts while shutting out the Urban Knights. 
• Johnson, Aguilar, McGrady, and Willman all checked in with hits for the Sunbirds. 

UP NEXT

• The series concludes tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Oakland, Calif at Laney College. 

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