CHICAGO – The UIC softball team (13-11, 2-1 HL) will take a short break from Horizon League action with a pair of midweek road games against Northern Illinois and Loyola. The Flames will battle with the Huskies on Tuesday, March 27 at 3:00 p.m. CT at Mary M. Bell Field and will face the Ramblers on Wednesday, March 28 at 3:00 p.m. inside Loyola Softball Park.

LAST TIME OUT
The Flames opened up Horizon League play this past weekend with a 2-1 series win over Detroit Mercy. After a 5-2 loss in the opener, UIC rallied to take both games on Saturday with seventh-inning heroics, 5-4 and 7-3. Horizon League Player of the Week Kayla Wedl paced the Flames with six hits and five RBI while Skylee James also had five RBI off four hits. Both Wedl and James homered in the seventh inning of the series finale, ending the game, and the series, in favor of the Flames.  

SCOUTING THE FLAMES
The Flames are batting .237 as a squad, boasting 147 hits (21 2B, 4 3B, 5 HR), 85 runs and 73 RBI. UIC leads the Horizon League with 53 stolen bases and its 2.29 steals per game average ranks ninth in the nation.

Lexi Watts sits atop UIC's offensive production with a .410 batting average, and her 32 hits ranks second amongst Horizon League players. Wedl is batting .282 with 20 hits, and Cairns owns 19 hits and a .271 average. James has 16 hits, six of which have been doubles, which puts her in a tie for second amongst Horizon League batters.

The UIC pitching staff continues to control the Horizon League standings, owning a 3.15 earned-run average to sit at the top of the conference. Flames pitchers have kept batters to a .248 batting average, which is lowest in the Horizon League. Allie Trudeau (2.65 ERA) and Karissa Frazier (4.10 ERA) combine for 19 of the team's starts, while Marley Hanlon (2.28 ERA) and Jennah Speth (4.04 ERA) make up the other five. Flames pitchers have dealt 97 strikeouts, which is also good for number one in the conference.

SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS
The Huskies are 9-20 heading into Tuesday's matchup, after taking a 1-2 series loss to Miami (OH) in their first weekend of Mid-American Conference action. NIU fell 1-0 in game one, came back to shutout the RedHawks 8-0 in game two, but dropped the series finale 7-2.

Jenny Van Geertry leads the Huskies' offense with a .409 batting average with 36 hits and 17 runs scored. Sam Schmidt is batting .366 with 30 hits, while Alaynie Woollard leads NIU with 17 RBI off 20 hits. As a team, the Huskies are batting .258 with 198 hits and 98 runs scored.

Northern Illinois's pitching staff collectively owns a 4.33 ERA allowing batters to hit .300. Tara Thacker has made the most starts on the mound with 16, and owns a 4.07 ERA individually. MacKenzie Bryan and Alex Frenz combine for 11 starts, with ERAs of 3.85 and 3.69, respectively.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS
UIC is 30-26 against the Huskies, after the two teams met this season at the Hoosier Classic on March 16-17 and split a pair of games. NIU took the first game, 4-2, but the Flames came out on top the following day with a 1-0 win in nine innings.

SCOUTING LOYOLA
The Ramblers (14-12) opened Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend against Bradley, winning 7-5 in the opener before taking a 5-4 loss to split the series.

Shannon McGee is hitting .452 this season, and leads Loyola in hits (38) and RBI (18). Jordyn Cordell has 25 hits and a .352 average and has come across the dish 14 times for the Ramblers. As a team, Loyola is hitting .286 with 116 runs scored and 100 RBI. The Ramblers have 197 hits thus far, 48 of which have been multi-base efforts.

The Ramblers' pitchers own a 2.88 ERA as a staff, and are led by Kiley Jones's 2.11 ERA across 15 starts and 17 appearances. Jones has pitched 12 complete games for Loyola, and has held batters to a .252 average. Keenan Dolezal (3.74 ERA) has made nine starts and seen 54.1 innings of action, while allowing batters a .315 average.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. LOYOLA
Wednesday's game will be the first meeting this season between the Flames and the Ramblers. UIC owns a 68-25 all-time advantage over Loyola, and last season's meeting saw a 5-2 win for the Flames. UIC and Loyola will meet again later this season on April 4 at Flames Field.