April 17, 2002

Box Score

Chicago, Ill. - The University of Illinois at Chicago entered Wednesday's contest against Northern Illinois with a robust batting average of .349.

Northern Illinois' pitchers, however, put the handcuffs on UIC, allowing only five hits en route to the 6-3 come-from-behind victory at Les Miller Field on Wednesday night.

Huskies' catcher Dave Garcia went 3-for-3 with a run scored and a RBI to lead the Northern Illinois offensive attack, while teammate John Brock went 2-for-5 with a RBI.

With the victory Northern Illinois improves to 13-20, while the Flames fall to 24-7 on the 2002 campaign.

Charlie Hahn (Rolling Meadows, Ill./Rolling Meadows) took the loss for the Flames as he pitched three innings in relief of starter Scott Anderson (Beulah, ND/Beulah) and allowed four hits while striking out three to drop to 0-1 on the season. Northern Illinois' Matt Schroeder earned the victory, despite walking seven batters, as he allowed three hits and struck out four batters.

UIC took a 2-1 lead into the top of the seventh inning as Northern Illinois leadoff batter Mike Hochhauser roped a double off Hahn. Joel Vandenberg reached base on a fielding error by first baseman Mike Lorenzo (Lockport, Ill./Providence) to put runners on first and third for the Huskies.

Garcia knotted the game up with a RBI single down the left field line to score Hochhauser. Huskies' shortstop Bilal Omar laid down a sacrifice bunt that Hahn fielded and stepped on home plate, but without a force, which would load the bases for Northern Illinois. Brock then plated the go-ahead run with a fielder's choice to score Vandenberg.

Northern Illinois added three unearned runs in the top of the ninth-inning behind a bases-loaded double from left fielder Mike Santoro. The Huskies added the third run of the inning on a balk by reliever Bill Bernabei (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew).

UIC mounted a comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth inning as catcher Kevin Nelson (Arlington Heights, Ill./Rolling Meadows) launched a double to centerfield with one out. Nelson advanced to third base on a fielding error by Hochhauser and scored on a fielders' choice by pinch hitter Chuck Peters (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg).

Northern Illinois put an end to the rally as reliever Max Sulzberger induced UIC shortstop Mike Bruszer (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) into a groundout to end the contest.

Northern Illinois got on the board first in the opening frame as Noel Danielson took a 3-2 offering from Anderson for a solo home run.

The Flames answered back with some fireworks of their own as junior right fielder Curtis Granderson (Lynwood, Ill./T.F. South) took the first pitch he saw from Huskies' pitcher Matt Schroeder over the wall for his seventh homer of the season to tie the contest at 1-apiece.

UIC extended the lead to 2-1 in the second inning as Bruszer drew a bases loaded walk from Schroeder.

UIC will be back in action on Friday evening, as they will host Horizon League rival Wright State at Les Miller Field at 6:05 PM.