CHICAGO – UIC was unable to complete three-game Horizon League sweep Sunday afternoon at Granderson Stadium, falling against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, 2-1.
 
Oakland's (4-17, 2-4 Horizon League)Jake Lee was brilliant on the bump. He limited the Flames (15-6, 4-2 Horizon League) to just one hit, a double from Ryan Lin-Peistrup with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. He also struck out 14 and walked three during a 132-pitch complete game.
 
UIC scored its lone run when Joshua Figueroa drove in Scott Ota on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second.
 
How It Happened
After Lee struck out the side in the bottom of the first, the Flames pushed across the game's first run in the second stanza. Ota led off the inning and reached on a two-base error by Oakland's Myles Zilinsky. After Alex Dee was hit by a pitch, both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch before Figueroa muscled a fly ball out to center field to plate Ota and give UIC a 1-0 lead.
 
Jacob Key was on the mound for the Flames and he worked his way out of tricky spots in the first three innings. He picked off a runner at second base in the third inning before catcher Aaron Ackerman helped him out by throwing out would-be base stealer Drew Demumbrum to end the inning.
 
The Golden Grizzlies broke through in the fourth, scoring twice on three hits. Zilinsky hit the third of three consecutive singles to help his team score for the first time. Two batters later, Mike McGee hit a ground-out to UIC third baseman Thomas Norton that allowed Ben Hart to score the game-winner.
 
Lin-Peistrup notched the first hit of the day for the Flames when he poked a two-out double down the left-field line in the bottom of the fifth. After that play, Lee retired 12 hitters in a row before Ota drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the ninth to extend the game. Lee bounced back and punched out the next batter, however, to end the ballgame.

Postgame Reaction

 

Beyond The Box Score

• UIC has won both its first two Horizon League series against Northern Kentucky and Oakland. The Flames won the first two games in both sets before falling short in the finale.
• Noah Masa pitched a season-high 2.1 innings of relief Sunday. The redshirt junior struck out two Golden Grizzlies, stranding a runner in scoring position each time.
• Alex Dee has reached base safely in a team-high 12 consecutive games. The Onalaska, Wis., native was 0-for-3 Sunday, but was hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance.
• The Flames dropped to 8-2 on the current 11-game homestand and 9-2 overall at Granderson Stadium in 2018.

 
Up Next

• UIC will close an 11-game homestand against the NIU Huskies on Tuesday, March 27 at 4:05 p.m. The Flames hosted the Huskies in the fourth game of the homestand on March 14 and exploded for a season-high 18 runs in an 18-3 victory.
• UIC will resume Horizon League play and hit the road for the first time since March 4 on Thursday, March 29, when the Flames will begin a three-game series at Youngstown State.