March 18, 2009
Box Score
CHICAGO- The UIC baseball team rallied from a four-run deficit to even Wednesday's game against Purdue in the bottom of the eighth, but Boilermaker slugger Dan Black hit a tie-breaking two-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth in the Flames' 6-4 loss at Les Miller Field.
Steve McGuiggan and Andy Leonard had identical offensive outings, as each went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored for the Flames (3-12).
Purdue (6-9) went up 3-0 after two innings and 4-0 after five and a half frames when the Flames began their comeback. Nathan Orf drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to right with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth, and McGuiggan hit an RBI single to cut UIC's deficit in half.
The hosts tacked on another run in the seventh on Leonard's RBI single and eventually loaded the bases once again, this time with no outs. But Purdue reliever Kevin Cahill retired the next three batters, ending the inning on a fielder's choice.
UIC put runners at the corners with one away in the eighth for Jason Ganek, who laid down a squeeze bunt with McGuiggan sprinting home and beating the throw to the plate to score the tying run.
After Eric Wyman induced the first two Boilermaker batters of the ninth into groundouts, Jonathan Lilly bunted down the first base line and beat Wyman's spinning toss to first baseman Brandon Harwell for an infield single. That set up Black, who hit Wyman's full-count offering over the centerfield wall as McGuiggan leaped to no avail.
Cahill then retired all three Flames hitters in the ninth via the groundout to end the game.
UIC stranded 14 runners on base.
The two teams split the two-game midweek series after UIC won Tuesday's opener, 15-5. They will meet one more time in West Lafayette this May.
McGuiggan went 7-for-10 at the plate against Purdue pitching the past two games.
UIC opens Horizon League play this weekend with a three-game series against Cleveland State at Les Miller Field that begins Friday, Mar. 20 at 4:05 p.m.
