CHICAGO -- After its last Horizon League series was spoiled entirely by Mother Nature, the UIC Flames will resume conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Northern Kentucky that begins on Friday, April 20 at 2 p.m. CT. The series continues at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex with games on Saturday at noon and Sunday at 11 a.m. All three games are scheduled to be carried on ESPN3.

UIC (17-13, 5-7 Horizon League) begins the second half of the League slate at Northern Kentucky (10-24, 5-10 Horizon League) in fifth place. Wright State is alone at the top with 11 wins through 15 conference contests. The Raiders are 3.5 games in front of both Oakland and Youngstown State (7-7). Milwaukee, which was to be UIC's opponent last weekend before unsavory weather wiped out all three games, is in fourth place. The Panthers are a game ahead of the Flames at 6-6 and NKU is tied in the win column with UIC, but three games back in the loss column at 5-10.

PITCHING PROWESS

• The Flames lead the Horizon League and rank 14th nationally with a 3.13 ERA in 2018. No other team in UIC's conference owns an ERA below 4.25 through the halfway mark in conference play.
• UIC's team ERA through 12 conference games - 3.23  - is also the League's best mark.
• Individually, the Flames have five of the top 10 ERA's in the conference. Charlie Cerny (0.40), Wyatt Trautwein (0.87) and Ryan Campbell (1.47) rank fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Noah Masa (1.93) is eighth and Reid Birlingmair (2.13) is 10^th.
• UIC ranked second in the NCAA with an earned-run average of 2.65 in 2017, behind only Oregon State (1.93). It was the best ERA in the program's history by 0.54 points (3.19 in 2003).

SOUP'S ON

• Senior Ryan Campbell threw back-to-back complete games for the first time in program history at Georgia Tech (8.0 IP) on March 3 and against Chicago State (9.0 IP) on March 10.
• He is the only pitcher in the Horizon League to throw two complete games this season. .
• Campbell began the season by throwing 17.0 consecutive scoreless innings. He allowed three runs in the fourth inning of his third start at Georgia Tech and followed that with 16.1 consecutive scoreless innings.
• Campbell ranks second in the Horizon League in innings pitched (55.0 IP) and the leader, WSU's Ryan Weiss (55.2 IP) has one additional start.
• In League play, Campbell owns a 2.25 ERA in four starts and 22 strikeouts in 24.0 IP.
• Last season, Campbell made 14 of his 16 appearances out of the bullpen for UIC.
• He is scheduled to start the opener at NKU Friday.

TOUGH OTA

• UIC junior Scott Ota is one of the toughest outs in the Flames' lineup. He's hitting .333/.405/.509 and ranks as the 16th toughest hitter to strikeout nationally, fanning only once every 16.3 plate appearances in 2018.
• Ota leads the Flames and ranks in the Horizon League's top seven in both hits (6th - 38) and slugging percentage (7th - .509). He also has a team-best three home runs this season, which is one shy of matching a career high (2016 and 2017).
• Ota leads UIC in both multi-hit (12) and multi-RBI (8) games. He owns the longest active on-base streak at 13 straight games entering the weekend series against Northern Kentucky.
• The Foster City, Calif., native was named Horizon League Batter of the Week two of the first three times the award was given out this season (Feb. 19; March 5).  He joins WSU's Gabe Snyder (Feb. 26; April 16) as the conference's only two-time winners this year.

NORSE REPORT

• UIC took two-of-three from the Norse when Northern Kentucky visited Granderson Stadium to open the Horizon League slate in March. The Flames claimed wins in the first two games before falling 6-1 in a 10-inning finale in the second game of a doubleheader on March 18.
• Newcomer Thomas Smart batted .556 in the series, while veteran Thomas Norton hit .308 and drove in five of UIC's 10 runs in the series.
• Reid Birlingmair threw 7.1 shutout innings to help the Flames win the second game of the set, 5-0. He matched a season high with nine strikeouts in victory.
• NKU batted .231 as a team with a staff ERA of 3.04 in the first three meetings. Mike Moffatt his .462 (6-for-13) and he and Will Haueter combined to drive in five of NKU's nine runs.
• UIC is 10-3 against Northern Kentucky since the Norse joined the Horizon League for the 2016 baseball season.

PROBABLE STARTERS (UIC vs. NKU)

• Friday, April 20: RHP Ryan Campbell (4-2, 1.47 ERA) vs. RHP Cameron Ross (1-5, 4.03 ERA)
• Saturday, April 21: RHP Charlie Cerny (3-1, 0.40 ERA) vs. LHP Sam Williams (2-4, 6.45 ERA)
• Sunday, April 22: RHP Jacob Key (1-4, 3.72 ERA) vs. RHP Brody Basilone (1-3, 5.56 ERA)

More news, notes and statistics can be sound in the UIC Series Notes PDF linked above.