April 18, 2008
Box Score
Valparaiso, Ind.- The UIC baseball team scored eight runs during the second inning to establish an early lead that was never in jeopardy and secure a 14-4 win over Valparaiso in the nightcap of Friday's doubleheader at Emory G. Bauer Field.
The victory sent the Flames (22-13, 11-3 Horizon League) to a twinbill sweep over the Crusaders (10-23, 3-7).
Both teams displayed run-scoring prowess by crossing the plate a combined 26 times during the day's opening bout, but UIC was the sole squad to flex its offensive muscle in round two as left-hander Don Phillis quieted the Crusader bats in his first start in two years.
Phillis was stout on the rubber, allowing just four runs while fanning eight hitters in seven innings, and his teammates gave him plenty of run support from the get-go.
UIC batted around in the second to break open the scoreless contest, doing most of the devastation with two away. Brett Schaefer singled to lead off the inning and scored when the next hitter, Kevin Coddington, crushed a ball all the way to the wall in left center for a two-base RBI hit.
Two outs later the Flames would put a pair on board for Steve McGuiggan, who ripped a double down the left field line to plate two more scores.
Ty Rubio brought in another run on a perfectly-placed bunt single that landed between second base and the mound. That play put two ducks on the pond for Jake Carr, who destroyed the second pitch he saw from starter Jon Gulbransen for a 410-foot blast to straight-away center.
Schaefer came up for the second time in the frame and drilled Gulbransen's 0-2 toss over the left field fence. It was the second time during the doubleheader that UIC hitters went deep in two consecutive at-bats.
The two teams traded runs in the third, and Valpo tallied another run in the fourth to cut its deficit down to seven. That margin was fattened in the fifth when Rafael Garcia belted a two-run shot off of John Snelten, registering his first collegiate round-tripper while putting the Flames back up by nine.
Schaefer and Tony Altavilla drove in runs during a three-run sixth.
The Flames tallied 28 runs and scratched out 30 hits during Friday's two games.
UIC returns home this Sunday to host Wright State in a pair of league games at Les Miller Field beginning at 12:05 p.m.
