May 27, 2007
Box Score
Chicago, Ill.- The UIC baseball team clinched the 2007 Horizon League Championship with a 14-2 victory over Wright State at Les Miller Field late Saturday night.
UIC (34-19) captured its third Horizon League tournament title in the last five years and earned the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Regional Championships.
The top-seeded Flames continued to blend offensive explosiveness and pitching prowess in the conference tournament after a 14-run, 18-hit effort at the dish and starter Steve Crnkovich's six innings of scoreless four-hit work.
After plating a run in the first on Micky Pingree's RBI double, UIC erupted for six runs in the second. Erik Whinery hit a two-run homer to left field, followed later in the inning by Jake Carr's three-run blast.
UIC hit two more three-run homers in the contest. David Cales hit a mammoth shot that sailed over the Les Miller Field scoreboard in the fourth, and Larry Gempp Jr. homered with two on in the fifth.
Cales was named the Horizon League Championship Most Valuable Player after hitting .615 (8-for-13) with three homers, three doubles, five runs scored, seven RBI and earning a clutch save in the Flames' opener. The sophomore from Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood recorded the final three outs of Saturday's championship game.
"I'm just really happy for the kids," said UIC head coach Mike Dee. "It's been a real struggle, and we lost a lot of guys from last year. I know a lot of people really questioned whether or not we were going to be very good. As with every team there were so many opportunities for us to be average, and there were three or four key things that they had to be able to do and they did it.
"I don't know if I've ever been prouder of a group," said Dee. "They played as well as they can play this weekend, but at the same time they played relaxed and I'm just really happy for them. I really, truly am."
In three Horizon League Championship games the Flames outscored its opponents 35-10 and went yard 10 times. As a team UIC hit .417 (50-for-120) while owning a team ERA of 2.33.
UIC scored seven runs in the first two innings combined for the third consecutive game in the league tournament.
"I think the key is can we take the same approach, the same attitude and the same level of relaxation into next weekend," said Dee on his team heading into NCAA postseason play. "This is why we played the schedule we did in the first 15 games of the year so that if we were fortunate enough to get this opportunity, the level of competition we're going to face is not going to be a shock.
"It's obviously going to be a real challenge for us, but at least we know what we're getting ourselves into, and anything can happen in this game."
The Flames will learn their NCAA Regional destination this Monday when the 2007 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship 64-team field and first-round regional pairings will be revealed live on ESPN at 11:30 a.m. Central time.
Stay tuned to the official online home of the 2007 Horizon League Baseball Champions and NCAA Tournament-bound UIC Flames, www.uicflames.com, for complete coverage of the Flames' postseason journey.
2007 U.S. ARMY HORIZON LEAGUE ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
David Cales, 2B/RHP, UIC - MVP
Larry Gempp Jr., CF, UIC
Jeremy Hamilton, 1B, Wright State
Jesse Hart, 2B, UW-Milwaukee
John Koehnlein, RF/3B, Youngstown State
Dan Luczak, RHP, UW-Milwaukee
Stephen Procner, LHP, Cleveland State
Nick Rainwater, 3B, UIC
Chad Schroeder, SS, UIC
Brian Shoup, RF, Wright State
Ryan Zink, RHP, UIC
