FRESNO, Calif.- Garrett Cooper added another stellar outing to his 2023 campaign as the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (8-12 overall, 2-3 PacWest) took the first game 11-1 before falling 9-3 in the nightcap to the Academy of Art Urban Knights (10-10 overall, 3-3 PacWest) Friday night at the FPU Diamond.
 
Cooper's 6 innings of 1 run ball added yet another excellent chapter in the righty's strong season as he struck out five while navigating around 7 hits.
 
But Cooper's strong control, that surrendered just one walk over those six innings, helped him keep the Urban Knights from doing any damage offensively.
 
By the time ART U crossed the plate, the Sunbirds already had a comfortable advantage as the FPU offense capitalized on the Urban Knights lack of control.
 
Chris Clement and Jordan Smith both drew walks to start the second inning. A wild pitch moved the runners the runners to second and third before a second errant pitch scored Clement to open the scoring.
 
More walks added to the Sunbirds' rally with Koutarou Matsumaru singling home Smith.
 
Jared Aguilar was hit by a pitch and Andrew Valdez walked to force home another run before Tommy Rover's RBI fielder's choice made it a four run inning.
 
Aguilar singled in the fourth and scored on Andrew Valdez's RBI double to make it 5-0 before ART U's solo homer got them on the scoreboard.
 
But FPU piled on five runs in the fifth after an error opened the flood gates. Matsumaru made the error hurt with a three-run triple in front of a two-run homer by Andrew Valdez which extended the lead back to 10-1.
 
The Sunbirds added one more in the 6^th on an errant throw into left field that scored Miguel Ortiz after his leadoff single.
 
From there Kyle Jimenez and Syler Pillsbury combined to shutout the Urban Knights over the final three innings to grab the series opening victory.
 
In game two, Brady Crow kept the zeroes coming in his first start of the season and traded zeroes with ART U's starter Devan Quesada over the first three innings.
 
But a dribbler up the third base line sparked the Urban Knights in the top of the fourth. After a single and two outs, ART U grabbed its first lead with a three-run homer.
 
The Academy of Art added another run in the fifth and opened things up with a five run sixth inning against the bullpen.
 
Quesada took a no-hitter into the bottom of the sixth before the Sunbirds found their offense. Matsumaru's leadoff single on the first pitch of the inning was promptly followed by Jared Aguilar's fourth homer of the year. After Andrew Valdez doubled, Miguel Ortiz drove him in.
 
But the three run inning was as close as FPU would get as ART U closed out the 7-inning ballgame for the win.
 
Fresno Pacific will look to regain momentum with a chance for a series victory on Saturday, concluding the series against the Academy of Art with a doubleheader beginning at noon at the FPU Diamond.
 
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