April 23, 2011
Box Score
INDIANAPOLIS - A suicide squeeze in the top of the ninth in Saturday's nightcap helped the UIC baseball team complete a doubleheader sweep of the Butler Bulldogs, 8-4 and 8-7.
With the score tied at seven, UIC pushed across the go-ahead and winning run in the top of the ninth. John Coen, who was pinch-running for Jacob McNamara scored on a flawlessly executed suicide squeeze off the bat of De LaRosa.
The nightcap saw both teams score in bunches early. The Flames set the tone with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning when Ryan Shober tripled to lead off the contest and came around to score on Nick Addison's single into center field. Addison would advance to third base on a wild pitch by Mike Hernandez and score on Matt Serna's base hit.
Butler roared right back with four runs in their half of the inning off UIC's Matt Heaslip. The Flames had another answer in the top of the second, however. It was Shober once again getting things started with a single through the left side that moved Josh Nevers, who had walked with two outs, to third. Addison doubled down the left field line to score Nevers and the next batter, Alex De LaRosa singled to right field, allowing both Shober and Addison and give the Flames a 5-4 advantage.
In the fourth inning, with the score the same, Nevers drew another walk and hustled to third base on Shober's double. Both runners would touch the plate on Addison's single to make it 7-4 UIC. The Flames gave it right back in the bottom of the fifth inning, however, surrendering a trio of runs on back-to-back walks and three straight singles to knot things at seven. Eric Wyman (1-2) relieved Heaslip with one out and runners on first and second and the savvy left-hander induced a fly out and struck out Bob Akin looking to end the threat.
Wyman continued to get stronger as his outing went on, holding the Butler offense in check. The southpaw worked 4.1 scoreless innings in relief, striking out a season-high seven in the process to get his first win of the season.
Wyman came out to start the ninth inning, but eventually gave way to Ganek who recorded the final out of the day to earn his fourth save of the season.
Shober and Addison, who were former teammates at Fremd High School in Palatine, Ill., combined for six of UIC's eight hits at the top of Mike Dee's lineup in game two. Shober had arguably his best performance in Flames uniform as he completed the game a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.
In game one, the Flames pushed across seven runs with the help of three hits and three Butler errors in the fourth inning to take the lead for good. The frame started with a double to center field off the bat of freshman Jon Ryan, the first of two in the inning for the young left fielder. McNamara was then hit by a pitch and Nevers reached on a fielding error when the third baseman for the Bulldogs could not handle his bunt attempt. With the bases loaded, Shober singled through the middle, allowing Ryan to score and tie the game at two. Later, with the bases loaded and three more runs already in, Ryan came up again and uncorked his second two-bagger of the frame scoring Ganek, Serna and Leonard and pushing the lead to 7-2.
Butler scored the first two runs of the contest in game one, plating single tallies in both the first and second innings. The first run of the day for the Flames came in the top of the third inning when Serna drew a bases-loaded walk off the Bulldogs' Dom Silvestri, scoring Addison.
Ryan and Shober were the only visiting players to record two hits in game one. Grant Fillipitch and Patrick Guinane each had three hits in the game for Butler.
UIC starter Matt Salemi (4-3) produced his fifth quality start of the season, allowing only two runs over 7.0 innings pitched. The junior scattered nine hits, walked one and struck out one in the opener for the Flames. Junior Chris Hoffman allowed two runs in his only inning of work, the eighth, and Ganek closed out the game with a scoreless ninth inning, though it was not a save situation for the UIC closer.
The teams will conclude the Horizon League series on Sunday at 11 a.m. Joey Begel is slated to take to the bump for the Flames in that contest. He'll be opposed by Butler's Jared Wagoner. Following Sunday's game, UIC will return to Les Miller Field for a non-conference affair on Tuesday, April 26 against the Chicago State Cougars at 7:05 p.m.
