April 22, 2007
Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
Indianapolis, Ind.- A pitching gem in the opener and a wild contest in the nightcap summed up the UIC baseball team's doubleheader split against Butler at Bulldog Park on Saturday.
The Flames won the first game by a 6-1 score, while UIC was on the wrong side of a 19-10 decision in the finale.
UIC moved to 20-14 overall and 11-45 in the Horizon League, while the Bulldogs are now 13-24 and 6-14 in league games.
Game 1: UIC 6, Butler 1
Rookie right-handed starter Steve Crnkovich tossed his second complete game of the year, allowing just one unearned run during the entire nine to guide UIC to its 20th win of the season in a 6-1 victory over Butler in Saturday's first game.
Larry Gempp Jr. reached base in all five of his plate appearances, going 4-for-4 with a walk and falling a triple short of the cycle.
UIC got on the board twice in the top of the first. With one away Nick Rainwater singled and Jake Carr walked, and the duo moved into scoring position on a Ryan Kruszka wild pitch. Gempp drove in Rainwater on a single to left center, while Trotter knocked in Carr on a single to right.
Crnkovich escaped an early jam in the second, as three singles loaded the bases for the Bulldogs. But the rookie right-hander kept his composure and ended the threat with a strikeout and a force out.
The Flames added another run in the third after Trotter grounded out to send Carr home from third.
Gempp led off the fifth inning by depositing Kruszka's 3-2 offering over the right field fence for his second homer of the year to extend UIC's lead to 4-0.
Butler scored its first run in the bottom half of the fifth. Back-to-back singles put a runner in scoring position with one out, and a ground ball hit by Ricky Chomicz at David Cales went past the UIC third baseman and allowed Ryan Neat to score an unearned run from second.
UIC got that run back in the next half-inning, as Erik Whinery led off with a double and eventually scored when Rainwater singled to left and a misplay by Chomicz let the ball roll all the way to the wall.
Another Flames run crossed the plate with one out in the top of the ninth when Cales doubled to the center field wall to drive in Gempp from second.
Crnkovich finished the game with six strikeouts and no walks issued. Butler's seven hits off of Crnkovich were lumped together in two three-hit innings with a bloop single in the ninth, as the Bulldogs went hitless in the other six frames.
Game 2: Butler 19, UIC 10
Micky Pingree went 3-for-3 with a homer and three RBI off the bench, but UIC miscues played a big role in Butler scoring eight times from the second through fourth innings and seven times in the seventh during a 19-10 loss in the nightcap.
Jake Carr went 3-for-5 with two RBI for the Flames.
Ryan Zink was charged with 10 runs (seven earned) in five-plus innings of work to suffer his second loss of the year.
Butler scored three times in the bottom of the second. With runners at the corners and one out, Betsch laid down a bunt in a suicide squeeze attempt. Cales charged in, barehanded the ball and threw over a leaping Carr at first to allow two runs to score and Betsch to get all the way to third, where he'd score from on a wild pitch unfurled by Zink.
Another error at third base played a part in a three-run Butler third inning.
UIC and Butler traded runs in the fourth, with Butler's runs as a result of an errant throw on a pickoff attempt by Zink. The Bulldogs tacked on three in the sixth to extend their lead.
A passed ball on a strikeout with two out in the bottom of the seventh proved costly when Butler scored seven times during the frame.
Tensions rose in that same half-inning when Butler's Alex Montagano and UIC's Rainwater and Cales were ejected by the first base umpire for jawing.
The Flames posted an eight-spot in the eighth. Pingree homered with a man on to open the floodgates during the inning.
Despite the loss, UIC took two of three from the Bulldogs to win the series.
UIC returns to Chicago for a five-game homestand at Les Miller Field beginning this Tuesday, April 24th against Northern Illinois at 7:05 p.m.
