CHICAGO -- UIC senior Ryan Campbell went the distance for the second time in as many starts and he helped the Flames blank the Chicago State Cougars Saturday, 4-0.

Campbell threw the second complete game of his career, and the first that spanned 9.0 innings, to bolster UIC (9-4) on the bump. The Carmel, Ind., native scattered six hits and struck out three while getting 17 of 27 outs (63 percent) via the ground ball. He improved to 3-1 in his first full season as a starting pitcher for the Flames.

UIC scored all four of its run in the fourth inning. Ryan Lin-Peistrup, who celebrated a birthday Saturday, and David Becker each walked with the bases loaded to bring home runs, while Scott Ota delivered a blow with a two-run single up the middle.

How It Happened
UIC put a runner on in each of the first three innings before finally breaking through with a four-run frame in the bottom of the fourth. Thomas Smart began the inning with a walk and he soon stole second base. Two batters later, Aaron Ackerman drew his own base on balls before Dominic Smith loaded the bases with a seeing eye single through the left side. Lin-Peistrup took four straight out of the zone to bring home Smart and give UIC its first run of the day.
 
Thomas Norton hit a sharp line drive that was snared with a leap ahead of David Becker, who walked on five pitches to score Ackerman. Smith and Lin-Peistrup would then come home when Scott Ota ripped the second pitch he saw from Grant Trower back through the box for a two-run single that put the Flames in front, 4-0.
 
Meanwhile, Campbell was cruising on the hill. Chicago State had a runner on a second with two outs in the fifth, but a soft line looper right to Lin-Peistrup at shortstop squashed that scoring chance. He retired the side in order in the sixth before serving up a lead-off single in the seventh to Tyler Lowe. Lowe was quickly erased on a double play, one of two turned by the UIC infield to support Campbell.
 
The Cougars tried to mount a late comeback in the top of the ninth with back-to-back base hits from Matt Paciello and Lowe. As he did 63 percent of the time Saturday, Campbell got Matt Cox to hit the ball on the ground right to Lin-Peistrup and the freshman threw to David Becker at the bag, and on to Bowen Ogata to complete the game-ending double play.

Postgame Reaction

 



Beyond The Box Score

• UIC registered its second shutout of the season Saturday, and first at Granderson Stadium. Both times that the Flames have held the opposition scoreless have come in games started by Ryan Campbell.
• Campbell pitched back-to-back complete games. The senior lowered his earned-run average to 0.87. He has allowed three earned runs in 31.0 IP, all of which came in one frame during his previous start before Saturday at Georgia Tech on March 3. Opponents are batting .190 against the tall right-hander.
• Scott Ota led UIC with two hits against Chicago State. He has a team-high nine multi-hit games. He also drove in two of the team's four runs and is pacing the squad with seven multi-RBI games. The junior is batting .468 and slugging .712 for the Flames.
• Thomas Norton walked in the top of the eighth inning and the third baseman has reached safely in a team-high 12 consecutive contests.
• Thomas Smart made his first start in a UIC uniform Saturday. The Evanston, Ill., native picked up a base hit in his first at-bat. He walked in his second and third at-bats, stealing second base both times. He became the first Flame with multiple stolen bases in a game this season.
• The Flames had five hits as a team to match a season-low for the second straight game and third overall. However the squad has won all three of those games. Before this weekend, the first occurrence came in the first game of the season in a 3-0 victory against Southern.
• UIC sits five games over .500 (9-4) for the first time this season. The Flames secured their second series victory of the season with Saturday's triumph. They will go for their first sweep of the year on Sunday.

Up Next

• UIC will finish the three-game series with Chicago State on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. CT.
• Sophomore Jacob Key (1-1, 3.50 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for the Flames. He picked up his first win of the season last time out at Georgia Tech. Two starts ago at UTRGV, Key became the first UIC pitcher since 2004 to strike out 11 hitters in a single game.