FAIRBORN, Ohio – UIC trailed on two different occasions in the regular season finale at Wright State Saturday, but the Flames were not to be denied as they rallied late to win 5-2 and capture the Horizon League's regular season championship in the process.
 
The Flames (36-15, 22-8 Horizon League) have taken a crown for the 13^th time in program history, and the second time in three years. As a reward for finishing with 22 Horizon League wins, and the conference's best record, UIC will host the Horizon League Tournament at Granderson Stadium, May 24-27. The Flames will be the bracket's top seed and will play their first game on Thursday, May 25 at 11 a.m. against a to-be-determined opponent.
 
How It Happened
UIC starter Jack Andersen maneuvered his way out of trouble in the bottom of the first as the Raiders left the bases loaded, but did not score a run. The home team broke through for the game's first tally in the bottom of the second. Kevin Whatley was hit by a pitch and he found himself on second base with two outs. JD Orr got the job done with a base hit to the left side to give WSU an early 1-0 lead.
 
Wright State's advantage held until the top of the fourth inning when the Flames evened the ledger against Zane Collins. UIC's Scott Ota and Ricardo Ramirez drew back-to-back walks with one out and they moved to third and second, respectively, when Bowen Ogata grounded out. Senior Brando Gibis then collected an infield single to second base that brought Ota home and knotted the score at a run apiece.
 
Andersen seized the momentum and got his first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a pair of grounders to Thomas Norton at third base and a strikeout of Orr. The Flames also went down in order in the top if the fifth before the Raiders scratched out another run in the bottom of that inning.
 
Matt Morrow doubled down the line in left before a single put runners at the corners with one out. UIC's Charlie Cerny was called upon in the bullpen and Seth Gray greeted the sophomore with an RBI double that scored Morrow and moved Gabe Snyder to third base with one out. Cerny got a pop-up to David Cronin at second base and fanned Adrian Marquez to keep Snyder 90 feet away from scoring.
 
The Flames roared right back and pushed across another equalizer in the top of the sixth. Rob Calabrese began the frame with an infield single, then Ota was plunked by a pitch from Collins. That would be his last offering as it prompted Mark Meyer to come in from the bullpen. Meyer uncorked a wild pitch that pushed both UIC runners up a base. After a groundout, Ogata muscled a sacrifice fly out to right field, deep enough to allow Calabrese to score and Ota to take third. The visitors could not grab the lead, however, as Meyer notched his first strikeout to end the inning. After fine and a half innings, the score was even, 2-2.
 
Connor Ryan spelled Cerny on the mound for the Flames to open the bottom of the sixth. After sending the Raiders down in order that time, he got into a minor jam in the bottom of the seventh. Zach Weatherford was hit by a pitch to open that inning, but he was cut down by the catcher Calabrese trying to swipe second base. Morrow walked, then Snyder singled, but Gray flied out to Mickey McDonald in center field for the second out. The next batter, Cory Heffron, rolled into a fielder's choice that ended the inning.
 
UIC finally took its first lead of the ballgame in the top of the eighth. Cody Bohanek launched a double to left field to open the inning against Meyer. Calabrese made a productive out that got Bohanek to third base and Ota gave the Flames the lead for good with a base hit to center on the second pitch he saw from Meyer.
 
Ryan got two quick outs to open the bottom of the eighth before a single and a walk to Orr prompted UIC head coach Mike Dee to tap closer Alex Padilla out of the bullpen. The redshirt sophomore rose to the challenge and got Weatherford to fly out to Gibis in left field to end the eighth and preserve the one-run lead.
 
The Flames would tack on two insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Batting in the leadoff spot for only the second time this season, McDonald punched a one-out single up the middle for his third hit of the afternoon. The speedster swiped second base and then scored when Cronin clubbed a two-bagger to left-center field. Weatherford mishandled the ball, so Cronin ended up on third base and that error would prove costly. Jorge Lozano came on for the Raiders to face Bohanek and his second pitch was wild, allowing Cronin to score and give UIC a 5-2 lead.
 
Padilla came back out to start the bottom of the ninth with the tall task of retiring Wright State's dangerous three, four and five hitters due up. Morrow drew a walk on five pitches to start the frame before Padilla got Snyder to fly out to Gibis for the first out. Gray flied out to McDonald in right-center field for the second out. Down to his team's last out, Morrow stole second base, but it was moot because Padilla got Heffron to wave at strike three on a full count to end the game and set off a celebration in the visitors' dugout.
 
Beyond the Box Score

• UIC claims its 12^th Horizon League (or Midwestern Collegiate Conference) regular season championship. The Flames won the conference tournament as a member of the Mid-Continent Conference in 1990. It is the second time in three seasons that head coach Mike Dee's club earned the title.
• UIC's 22 wins in Horizon League play tied for the program's most conference wins ever. The 2006 and 2015 squads also won 22 games against League opponents.
• The Flames won 36 games overall during the regular season, most since the 2005 team won 38.
• Alex Padilla notched his eighth save of the season, and seventh in Horizon League play. He did not allow a run in 22.1 innings pitched against conference foes, and has not allowed a run overall since March 5 at Missouri. His ERA in 25 appearances and 35.1 IP is 0.51 and opponents are batting .189 against the right-handed hurler.
• The redshirt sophomore's eight saves rank him fifth on UIC's single-season leaderboard. Padilla's seven saves in Horizon League games were the most in conference play in 2017, and two more WSU's Derek Hendrixson, who had two in this series.
• Connor Ryan pitched a season-high 2.2 innings in relief on Saturday. He previous high, 2.1, was done in his first two outings of the season (Feb. 18 and Feb. 24). It was only the third time he provided more than 2.0 innings of relief.
• Ryan notched his third win out of the bullpen Saturday, and first in Horizon League play. The senior was also the winning pitcher of record at No. 7 Vanderbilt on Feb. 24 and against Georgia Tech on April 28.
• Mickey McDonald led UIC with a team-high three hits. It was the second time in five games against Wright State that the center fielder accumulated three hits, and the fifth time overall this season.
• McDonald's stolen base in the ninth inning was his team-high 15^th of the season. That also marks a new career high (14 in 2015).
• Brandon Gibis had one hit Saturday. The senior batted a team-high .429 (7-of-17) in five games against Wright State this season. He was one of five Flames to drive in three runs against the Raiders.
• UIC mounted its ninth comeback win of the season Saturday.
• The Flames won the season series over Wright State, 3-2. That means UIC won the season series against all six Horizon League foes.
• UIC improved to 11-9 in road games this season, including four wins in conference play. It went 23-5 overall at Granderson Stadium and 17-4 in Horizon League home games.

 Up Next

• UIC will host the Horizon League Tournament at Granderson Stadium beginning on Wednesday, May 24.
• The Flames will have a bye in the first round and will not play until Thursday, May 25 at 11 a.m. CT. The hosts will face the lowest remaining seed between No. 4 Valparaiso, No. 5 Oakland and No. 6 Milwaukee.
• Wright State is the second seed and will play the highest remaining seed from the group above plus No. 3 Northern Kentucky on Thursday at 3 p.m.
• More information for the Horizon League Championship will be available soon on UICFlames.com.