CHICAGO – Top-seeded UIC defended its home-field advantage on Thursday as the Flames knocked off the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, 8-0, at Granderson Stadium in their first game at the 2017 Horizon League Championship.
 
UIC (37-15) took an early lead with a first-inning run before pouring it on in the bottom of the third. The Flames pushed across six runs in the frame to create a sizable cushion that was all starting pitcher Jake Dahlberg would need. Brandon Gibis hit a two-run single in the inning, while Mickey McDonald added a two-run double.
 
Dahlberg allowed only two hits over seven shutout innings, preserving the bullpen in a big way in UIC's first game of the week. The southpaw struck out four.
 
The Flames advance to the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship, where they will meet No. 2 Wright State on Friday, May 26 at 12 p.m. CT.
 
How It Happened
Batting in the leadoff spot for only the third time this season, Mickey McDonald led off the bottom of the first inning with a bunt single and he moved to second base on a passed ball. All-Horizon League First Team selection Cody Bohanek hit a ball that hugged the right-field line and landed in play for an RBI double. Later in the inning UIC had the bases loaded after a pair of batters were hit by a pitch, but a bang-bang play went Oakland's way to limit the damage.
 
Dahlberg did not allow a base runner for the first time in the game in the top of the third inning and the offense seized that momentum in the bottom half. Bohanek was the first UIC hitter to reach, doing so with a bunt single down the third-base line. Rob Calabrese, Scott Ota and Ricardo Ramirez each followed with singles, the latter two of which scored runs to push the lead to 3-0.
 
After Ogata was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Gibis stepped up and punched a base hit to center field that allowed both Ota and Ramirez to score. Two batters later McDonald launched a two-bagger to right-center field that brought two more runs home and increased the lead to seven runs.
 
Dahlberg settled down and retired 10 Golden Grizzlies in a row before issuing a two-out walk in the top of the fifth.  In the top of the sixth Oakland picked up its first hit of the ballgame when Tyler Janish doubled over the outstretched glove of UIC third baseman Thomas Norton. After another walk put two on with nobody out, Dahlberg got Ben Hart to line out to Bohanek, who fired on to David Cronin to complete a double play.
 
Oakland kept battling and put two more runners aboard to begin the top of the seventh. Dahlberg found a groove and fired off three consecutive strikeouts to end the inning, getting Tyler Trovinger looking to end the frame.
 
The Flames tacked on one more run in the bottom of the seventh. Calabrese hit a sharp single to left field to begin the inning and he moved from first to third on Ota's base hit to right field. UIC's catcher then scored when Ramirez grounded out.
 
Noah Masa relieved Dahlberg with a scoreless eighth inning and Austin Smith closed it out with no harm done in the ninth inning to ensure that the Flames advance directly to Friday.
 
Beyond the Box Score

• UIC posted its 11^th shutout of the season Thursday. The Flames are tied with No. 1 Oregon State for the most shutouts in the nation in 2017.
• The Flames have won at least 37 games for the fourth time in program history, and the first time since 2008 (38). The 2002 and 2003 squads share the program record with 39 wins apiece.
• UIC lowered its staff ERA to 2.61 on the season. The Flames rank second in the nation in ERA, behind Oregon State. The current single-season record is 3.19, held by the 2003 staff.
• The Flames improved to 24-5 at Granderson Stadium this spring.
• UIC is 30-3 when holding the opposition to three runs or fewer.
• In three starts against Oakland this season Jake Dahlberg is 3-0 with an 0.48 ERA (1 ER/21.1 IP). He has 20 strikeouts against the Golden Grizzlies and they are batting .147 against him.
• With four strikeouts Thursday, Dahlberg moved into second place on UIC's all-time list with 209. He passed both Zach Peterson (206) and Ryan Zink (208) against Oakland.
• Dahlberg won for the 25^th time in his UIC career, tying him Zink and Ryan Gehring for third on the program's all-time leaderboard. He also moved into fifth place with 279.0 innings.
• Rob Calabrese was one of five Flames with at least two hits in Thursday's game. The Horizon League Player of the Year is batting .500 (12-for-24) with four doubles and eight RBI in six games against the Golden Grizzlies this season.
• Cody Bohanek had as many hits as Oakland's roster, producing knocks in his first three at-bats. It was the seventh time this he had three hits in a game, most on the team.
• Both Scott Ota and Ricardo Ramirez extended their hitting streaks to a team-high six games Thursday. Ramirez also owns the longest active on-base streak at seven games.
• Austin Smith has appeared in eight games out of the bullpen for UIC, and three of them are against Oakland. He's allowed just one run in 4.2 innings of relief against the Golden Grizzlies.

Postgame Reaction

 



Up Next

• UIC advance to play No. 2 Wright State in the semifinals on Friday, May 26 at 12 p.m. CT. It will be the sixth meeting between the two teams since a May 13 doubleheader at Granderson Stadium.
• UIC went 3-2 against the Raiders this spring and 2-0 at home.