CHICAGO -- UIC head coach Mike Dee picked up career victory number 600 on Sunday as the UIC Flames split a doubleheader with the Northern Kentucky Norse at Granderson Stadium. The Flames (13-5) posted their third shutout of the season in game one, 5-0, before falling in the nightcap, 6-1, in 10 innings.

Thomas Norton delivered the big blow in game one, a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to push the lead to five runs. David Becker and Dominic Smith also drove in runs for UIC in the series-clinching win. Reid Birlingmair was brilliant on the mound in the opener. The junior fired 7.1 scoreless innings, while matching a season high with nine strikeouts. He scattered seven hits and walked only one batter, which came in his final inning of work.

The Norse jumped out to a 1-0 lead in game two thanks to a leadoff home run by Jake Richmond. Smith hit a sacrifice fly for UIC in the bottom of the fifth, but pitching dominated the story. NKU pushed across five runs with two outs in the top of the 10th to pull away and salvage a game in the three-game set.

How It Happened – Game One
Birlingmair set the tone early on the mound, striking out the side in the top of the first inning. He added one in the second, one in the third and one in the fifth frames to help keep the Norse at bay in the early going.
 
UIC's offense sprang to life in the bottom of the fifth, producing the first run of the afternoon. Thomas Smart led off with a sharp single to left field. Becker moved him up to second on a sacrifice bunt and Smith drove Smart in with a base hit to left field.
 
After UIC's starting pitcher added two more strikeouts in the top of the seventh, the Flames went back to work and padded the lead in the bottom half. Alex Dee drew a lead-off walk and pinch runner Trey Beckman moved to second base on a Smart sacrifice and third on a wild pitch. Beckman scored the second run of the game when Becker poked a base hit through the left side.
 
Ryan Lin-Peistrup was hit by a pitch and two batters later Norton came to the dish with two on and two out. UIC's third baseman muscled a three-run home run into NKU's bullpen in left-center field to expand the lead to five runs.
 
Richmond began the top of the eighth with a walk, the first and only one issued by Birlingmair. After a single and a fly ball to center field, the starter was lifted in favor of Charlie Cerny. Cerny got Will Haueter to bounce into an inning-ending double play. Wyatt Trautwein pitched a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout to nail down the 5-0 series-clinching triumph.
 
How It Happened – Game Two
Richmond deposited a pitch over the fence in left field to begin the second game, but after that UIC's Jacob Key settled in. The Norse would not get a runner past second base for the remainder of his 6.0 IP.
 
Like game one, the Flames received their first scoring opportunity in the bottom of the fifth. Lin-Peistrup singled to no-man's land to begin the inning. NKU's Brody Basilone tried to keep the runner close, but an errant pickoff attempt allowed the speedy UIC shortstop to motor all the way around to third base. Smith then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to even the score at a run apiece.
 
The next chance to take the lead would come in the bottom of the eighth. Norton opened the inning with a base hit, but he was erased on a double play that was started on a quick throw from NKU catcher Collin Hohman. Scott Ota kept the inning alive with a base hit through the left side. It was then déjà vu as reliever Kyle Service was so preoccupied with Ota that he misfired a pickoff throw and Ota moved all the way to third base. This time, however, the Flames could not push the run across.
 
With the score even after nine, the teams headed for extra innings. After a scoreless ninth, UIC's Alex Padilla struck out the first man he faced in the 10^th. However a single and two hit batsmen loaded the bases. Padilla got Chad Roberts to pop out to Norton in foul territory for a big second out. Mike Moffatt came up and hit a slow roller toward Norton and he was able to beat the throw to Dee at first, allowing the go-ahead run to score. The Norse would add four more runs in the inning before finishing off the Flames, 6-1.
 
Postgame Reaction





Beyond The Box Score

• UIC head coach Mike Dee registered career win No. 600 in the first game. It was the first milestone victory (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600) that came in a shutout.
• The Flames pitched their third shutout of the season and first in conference play.
• UIC extended its winning streak to a season-high seven games in the opener.
• Reid Birlingmair threw a season-high 7.1 IP Sunday. He also matched a season high with nine strikeouts.
• Thomas Smart batted .556 (5-for-9) in his first Horizon League series as a member of the Flames. He also scored two runs.
• UIC fell to 0-2 in extra-inning games this season.
• The Flames are 3-1 in three-game series this season.

Up Next

• UIC will continue its 12-game homestand on Tuesday, March 20, when the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame visit Granderson Stadium.
• Notre Dame is the second ACC foe that the Flames will tangle with the season. UIC won one of three games during a trip to Georgia Tech, March 2-4.
• The last meeting between the two teams was on March 22, 2016. Notre Dame won that meeting, 9-5.