CHICAGO – UIC pushed across four runs in the second inning and it proved to be ample offense as the Flames took the first game of a three-game set against the Chicago State Cougars at Granderson Stadium Friday, 4-3.
 
UIC (8-4) won for the second time in as many games at Granderson Stadium this season by identical 4-3 scores. Reid Birlingmair allowed two runs over 5.0 innings to collect his second win of the season for the Flames, while Alex Padilla nailed down his fourth save in as many chances. In between, Wyatt Trautwein, Noah Masa and Charlie Cerny combined for three scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
 
Chicago State's Dylan Cumming went the distance, throwing 133 pitches for the Cougars. Save for the four-run second, he was sharp, allowing five hits and striking out nine Flames.
 
How It Happened
After Cumming retired the first four Flames he saw Friday before Bowen Ogata broke through with one out in the bottom of the second. The UIC first baseman turned a pitch and launched it deep over the bullpens in left field to give the Flames a 1-0 lead. Alex Dee and David Becker followed with base hits before Dylan Gilbert was hit by a pitch in the lower leg to load the bases. Dee would score from third base on a passed ball before Becker and Gilbert came around when Derrick Patrick reached on an error on CSU first baseman Tyler Lowe to give the home team a 4-0 lead after two frames.
 
Matt Cox put the Cougars' first run of the game on the board with a solo home run of his own out to left field to begin the fourth inning. In the fifth, CSU clawed even closer when Zach Thomas singled through the left side to open things up before scoring from second two batters later on an RBI single from Matt Paciello. The Cougars had two runners aboard and one out before Birlingmair escaped the jam by inducing a 6-4-3 double play from the clean-up hitter Tyler Lowe and striking out Jacob Vanitvelt to end the inning.
 
Trautwein spelled Birlingmair out of the bullpen and worked an easy sixth inning with a pair of ground balls sandwiched around a strikeout. He ran into a bit of trouble and the Cougars had two on with two outs before Masa emerged to retire the only batter he faced, Lowe, on a sharp ground ball to Becker at second base.
 
Cerny, the reigning Horizon League Pitcher of the Week, struck out the side in the top of the eighth and the Flames tried to tack on to the two-run lead in the bottom half. Cumming set Scott Ota and Aaron Acekrman down before losing a touch of control and hitting both Ogata and Dee. He was down in the count 3-0 to Becker but battled back for his ninth and final strikeout of the afternoon.
 
Facing Padilla in the top of the ninth, Nick Heidenthal was hit by a pitch to begin the frame. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before UIC's closer got Thomas to go down swinging for the second out. Cody Freund kept hope alive for the Cougars with a softly hit two-out single that allowed Heidenthal to score and close the gap to one. Padilla got the next hitter, Lowe, to ground out to Thomas Norton at third base, however, to end the ballgame.

Postgame Reaction

 



Beyond The Box Score

• Charlie Cerny has made a team-high eight appearances out of the bullpen for UIC. He has struck out 22 and has not issued a walk in 13.1 innings of work for the Flames. He has fanned all six hitters he has faced in 2.0 innings over two appearances at Granderson Stadium this season.
• Alex Padilla is four-for-four in save opportunities this season. He moved into sole possession of third place on UIC's all-time saves list Friday by notching his 14^th as a member of the Flames.
• Bowen Ogata became the sixth different UIC hitter to homer this spring. His second-inning blast was his third career long ball in his second season as a member of the Flames.
• Thomas Norton's career-high 10-game hitting streak came to end, though he did walk in the second inning so he has reached safely in a team-high 11 consecutive contests.
• David Becker enjoyed his second straight multi-hit game as he was the only Flame with multiple knocks Friday. He has three multi-hit games in his first season at UIC.
• The Flames had five hits as a team to match a season-low, however the squad has won both those games. The first occurrence came in the first game of the season in a 3-0 victory against Southern.
• UIC is unbeaten in two games at home this season. Friday's victory marked the first contest in the season's longest homestand, 12 games. Last year UIC won 22 times in 27 outings at home.

Up Next

• UIC will continue the three-game series with Chicago State on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.
• Senior Ryan Campbell (2-1, 1.38 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for the Flames. He's coming off his first career complete game at Georgia Tech on March 3. The Cougars will throw left-hander Grant Trower (0-2, 10.38 ERA).