April 18, 2006

Box Score

Milwaukee, Wis.- Despite owning a four-run lead in the seventh inning, the UIC baseball team could not hold on as the Flames fell in 10 innings by a 7-6 count to UW-Milwaukee at Henry Aaron Field on Tuesday.

Larry Gempp Jr. went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a home run, while Jon Brown and Ben Trotter each went 3-for-5 at the plate.

UIC (19-14, 11-4 Horizon League) got on the board first when Bart Babineaux's grounder to short scored Brown from third for the game's first run.

The Flames tacked on another score in the fourth, as Nick Rainwater's well-executed sacrifice bunt down the first base line scored Trotter to put UIC up 2-0.

UW-Milwaukee (15-17, 7-8 Horizon League) tied the game with two unearned runs in the bottom half of the fourth.

UIC broke the tie in the top of the seventh with four runs. Gempp blasted a two-run homer over the right centerfield fence, and Justin Johnson's double down the rightfield line scored two more to give the Flames a 6-2 lead.

But the Panthers chipped away with two runs in the bottom of the seventh and a single run in the eighth.

With the bases loaded full of Panthers and one away in the bottom of the ninth, Joe Skinner relieved Jason Foster with the Flames nursing a one-run advantage. Skinner induced Joe Nowicki into a hard-hit grounder to short, where Chad Schroeder made a stellar backhanded stab to start a double play attempt.

Second baseman Mark Hallberg made the putout at second, but a sliding Ross McCoy appeared to advance past the bag and into Hallberg's legs to force a tough throw and give Nowicki enough time to reach first and allow the tying run to score.

In the top of the tenth Brown hit a two-out single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch from Kelby Mack to give UIC a runner just 90 feet away from breaking the tie. Schroeder hit a sharp grounder to third base and nearly beat out Matt Curran's throw, but he was called out in a close play to end the threat.

UW-Milwaukee then scored the game-winner with two out in the bottom of the tenth on Jesse Hart's RBI single.

Babineaux extended his current hitting streak to 17 games while also maintaining a streak of at least one RBI in the last 16 contests.

UIC heads to Indianapolis, Ind., this weekend for a three-game series against Butler beginning on Saturday with a doubleheader.