ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Feb. 25) – The Central Washington University baseball team heads to San Francisco, California for a three-game series against the Academy of Art University in a final tune-up before Great Northwest Athletic Conference play begins.
 
The Urban Knights are 3-7 on the young 2016 campaign.  They dropped three games to the San Francisco State Gators last weekend. 
 
Erick Luna hit .571 (4-for-7) in the first two games of the series against SF State with one home run.  Tyler Strawn hit at a .417 clip over the series.  The series against Central is also a final tune-up for ArtU, as its conference schedule opens against Fresno Pacific University during the first week of March.
 
Gregory Ivory currently leads Academy of Art at the dish, posting a .300 batting average.  Ivory is also tied for the team lead in runs batted in with five. 
 
The Wildcats are coming off of a 2-2 split against NAIA opponent Corban University.  Central took both games on Sunday after dropping both on Saturday. 
 
Darren Honeysett is off to a .350 start on the season.  He has a trio of doubles and has driven in a pair of runs. 
 
Christopher Dalto was a sparkplug in the final two games of the Corban series.  The infielder roped a pair of doubles, setting the table for the Wildcats. 
 
"Dalto got a pair of good pitches and he didn't miss," CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said.  "Hopefully he can get a few more pitches to drive this weekend."
 
The Wildcats tallied a combined 19 hits in the last two games of their last series.
 
"We were still a little over-aggressive at the dish," Storey added.  "We need to get a bit more disciplined and string some hits together in the tune-up."
 
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, while Saturday's doubleheader starts at 1 p.m.