April 22, 2008

Box Score

Geneva, Ill.- The UIC baseball team suffered a 4-3 loss to Northern Illinois at the Kane County Cougars' Elfstrom Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Starter Chris Kovacevich struck out a career-high seven batters in 6.1 innings of work for the Flames (22-16).

Trailing by a pair, UIC staged a two-out rally in the ninth. Kevin Coddington reached on a two-base error by shortstop Bobby Stevens, and another error charged to Stevens on Tony Altavilla's hard-hit grounder allowed the UIC catcher to score from second.

Altavilla got into scoring position by stealing second, but reliever Andy Deain got Andy Leonard to ground out to second to end the game.

UIC fell behind early when the Huskies (17-19) scored three times in the first. The big blow came off the bat of designated hitter Justin Behm, who hit a two-run homer over the center field wall with two out in the opening frame.

Coddington and Altavilla led off the fifth inning with back-to-back doubles to plate a run, and two batters later Rafael Garcia flew out to left to drive in Altavilla from third and cut the deficit down to a single tally.

The Flames seemed to have a golden opportunity to tie or take the lead when they loaded the bases with one away in the sixth, but NIU starter Matt Jernstad induced Coddington to hit a ground ball to short that resulted in a double play after a very close call at first base.

Northern Illinois loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Reliever Adam Worthington came on and struck out the first hitter he faced, but he unleashed a wild pitch that allowed a crucial run to cross the plate.

The former Clemente High School double play combination of Garcia and NIU second baseman Marvin Sanchez, who are also cousins, played on opposing teams for the first time ever in Tuesday's game.

UIC hosts Central Michigan at Les Miller Field this Wednesday at 6:05 p.m.