April 11, 2009
Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score
INDIANAPOLIS- The UIC baseball team rode stellar pitching that allowed just three runs in two contests as the Flames scored a pair of victories over host Butler at Bulldog Park on Saturday.
Starter Adam Worthington struck out a career-high 12 hitters while allowing just one unearned run in 8.2 innings to lead UIC to a 4-1 win in Saturday's opener.
Three Flames hurlers combined to allow just two total runs in the nightcap, and UIC scored two critical runs in the top of the eighth to pull out a 4-2 victory and secure the twinbill sweep.
UIC improved to 14-15 overall and 9-2 in Horizon League play, while Butler dropped to 6-25 and 2-9 in league games.
Game One: UIC 4, Butler 1
Worthington continued his mastery on the mound as a first-year starter for the Flames, sitting down a career-high 12 Bulldogs in a 4-1 victory in the opener between the two teams.
The senior right-hander gave up just five hits and a walk in 8.2 innings. After allowing a two-out single to Kyle Schultz in the bottom of the ninth, Worthington gave way to Derrick Miramontes, who eventually struck out Griffin Richeson to end the game and record the save.
Steve McGuiggan went 3-for-5, while Jason Ganek drove in a pair of runs.
The Flames plated all of their runs without an RBI hit. UIC went ahead in the fourth on Ganek's sacrifice fly and Jared Wagoner's wild pitch that allowed Andy Leonard to score from third, and the Flames scored runs on Leonard's fifth-inning sac fly and a bases-loaded walk to Ganek in the seventh.
Butler scored its sole run in the seventh following a dropped fly ball in right by John Rosinski that eventually led to an unearned tally brought in on Richeson's RBI double.
Worthington has lasted at least seven innings in every one of his seven starts this season. All but one of his starts have been a quality start (at least six innings and only three earned runs allowed).
Game Two: UIC 4, Butler 2
A two-run eighth inning gave UIC the decisive and insurance runs it needed to hold off Butler during a 4-2 victory in Saturday's finale.
Starter Chris Kovacevich earned the win, keeping Butler off the scoreboard in 5.2 innings of work, while Miramontes worked a little longer in his second stint of the day by tossing the contest's final three innings for his fifth save of the season.
UIC led 2-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh after a second-inning RBI single hit by Jake Carr and a seventh-inning error on Ganek's sacrifice bunt attempt that allowed Brett Schaefer to score from second.
Butler cut the Flames' lead in half on Rick Betsch's squeeze bunt that brought home Richeson, who was at third after reliever Eric Wyman's throwing error during a fielder's choice play at second earlier in the inning.
But the Flames scored crucial runs off of reliever Dom Silvestri in the next half-inning. Four consecutive singles by Tony Altavilla, McGuiggan, Leonard, and Brandon Harwell produced two runs and put UIC up 4-1.
The Bulldogs would score a run in the bottom half of the inning, but Miramontes escaped trouble in both the eighth and the ninth by inducing frame-concluding groundouts to preserve another UIC win.
UIC and Butler conclude their three-game series on Easter Sunday at 12 p.m. Central.
