EVANSTON, Ill. – UIC extended its winning streak to seven games with a 5-1 triumph at Northwestern on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Cody Bohanek led the offense with three hits, including two doubles, and three RBI. Scott Ota also drove in three runs with a sacrifice fly and a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning.
 
Noah Masa was masterful on the mound as he threw 3.2 innings of scoreless relief in which he allowed one hit and struck out a pair. It is the redshirt sophomore's first career victory on the bump.
 
How It Happened
UIC got on the scoreboard right away in the top of the first inning. David Cronin led off the ballgame with a base hit through the left side before Bohanek pounded a double down the line left field that allowed the speedy Cronin to score. Ricardo Ramirez walked and he and Bohanek each moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch from NU's Cooper Wetherbee. Ota then drove in the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, staking the Flames to an early two-run lead.
 
Key, making his first appearance since March 7, allowed the first two Wildcats to reach base in the bottom of the first. He got Northwestern's hottest hitter, Alex Erro, to pop out to Thomas Norton at third base before he punched out the next two 'Cats to squash the threat.
 
In the bottom of the third, Northwestern looked to scratch out its first run when Erro collected a two-out single ahead of a walk to put two on for Connor Lind. Key induced a ground ball to Bohanek at shortstop and the senior flipped to the second baseman Cronin to end the inning and strand another pair of runners.
 
The Wildcats scored their first run in the bottom of the fourth. Nick Paciorek hit an RBI single with one away. UIC tapped Masa out of the bullpen to get out of the jam and he did just that with a strikeout and a ground ball to Cronin to end the inning and maintain a one-run lead.
 
As the game turned toward the final three innings, the Flames added three more runs against relievers Danny Katz and Richard Fordon in the top of the seventh. Rob Calabrese opened things up with a base hit and Brandon Gibis sacrificed him up to second. After a pitching change, Norton singled up the middle to put runners on the corners and Cronin dropped a bunt single that brought Calabrese home. The Bohanek delivered another big blow, a two-run double to left-center field that extended UIC's lead to four runs, 5-1.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, the Wildcats has two on and one out, but Masa got Erro to chop into an inning-ending double play.
 
The Flames really put the game out of reach in the ninth inning. Cronin actually struck out to begin the inning, but he reached first base safely via a passed ball. NU's Tyler Lass picked up two outs, but he couldn't retire Ota and the right fielder blasted his third home run of the season over the fence in right field to give UIC a 7-1 lead.
 
Charlie Cerny and Ryan Campbell teamed up to get the final three outs of the game with each notching a strikeout. Campbell's fanning of Ben Dickey ended the ballgame and gave the Flames a seventh consecutive victory.
 
Beyond the Box Score

• UIC has won seven consecutive games for the first time since stringing together an eight-game winning streak between May 5-21, 2015.
• Ota leads the Flames with 15 RBI, while Bohanek is close behind with 13 runs driven in. Both players collected three RBI Tuesday.
• Bohanek is hitting .556 with three extra-base hits and four RBI in two games against Northwestern this season. Calabrese, who added two hits against the Wildcats Tuesday, is batting .625 (5-of-8) with three RBI in the two meetings.
• UIC has plated an average of six runs per game during the current seven-game streak.
• The Flames own a staff earned-run average of 1.12 during the current seven-game winning streak. The opposition is batting .183 in those seven games and averaging only 1.1 runs per outing.

Up Next

• The Flames return to Horizon League play on Friday afternoon at Granderson Stadium against the Valparaiso Crusaders.
• The series begins on Friday, March 24 at 4:05 p.m.