BOX SCORE

Coach Dee's Postgame Comments

CHICAGO -- The UIC baseball team (26-20-1, 20-8 HL) plated three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete a thrilling rally and edge Youngstown State (16-31, 9-19 HL) by a final of 6-5 on Thursday night at Curtis Granderson Stadium. The Flames remain one-half game ahead of second-place Wright State in the Horizon League standings despite the Raiders claiming a 3-2 victory earlier in the day against Valparaiso.

Senior Jeff Boehm played the hero with a bases-loaded walk-off single in the ninth inning that drove in redshirt senior Zenon Kolakowski. Boehm increased his league-leading RBI count to 59, which also ranks eighth on UIC's all-time single season leaderboard. Kolakowski paced UIC at the plate by going 3-for-4 on the day.

Senior Ryan Hinchley (3-1) picked up his third win of the season after tossing the final 1.2 innings. Sophomore Jake Dahlberg received the nod and lasted 6.2 frames, allowing six hits and three earned runs.

YSU took an early 2-0 lead after plating a pair of runs in the top of the third inning, but the Flames responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third. Redshirt freshman David Cronin drove in UIC's first run with a single to center field that scored redshirt senior Alex Lee. Cronin eventually crossed the dish after sophomore Cody Bohanek ripped a RBI-single to right field to knot the count at 2-2.

The Flames grabbed hold of a 3-2 advantage in the sixth frame after senior Tyler Detmer was allowed to score on a passed ball.

The Penguins tied the tally (3-3) once again with a lone run in the top of the seventh inning and then took a 5-3 lead off a two-run jack from Shane Willoughby.

Freshman Rob Calabrese began UIC's ninth inning rally with an infield single and was then advanced to second after Cronin reached base off an error. Kolakowski then drove in Calabrese with a single to right field that pushed Cronin to third. A walk issued to Bohanek loaded the bags for UIC and then forced in a run after Detmer was hit by a pitch on the next at-bat. That's when Boehm pushed across the winning run with an infield single that bounced off the out-stretched glove of the YSU pitcher.

Game two is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CT on Friday morning.