CHICAGO -- UIC returns to Granderson Stadium on Tuesday evening to open a six-game homestand and host the Northwestern Wildcats at 6:05 p.m. CT. It will be the first meeting of the season between the Flames and 'Cats after the two previous scheduled meetings were wiped out by inclement weather.

PATRICK PICKS UP HORIZON LEAGUE HONOR

• UIC outfielder Derrick Patrick was named the Horizon League Batter of the Week on Monday.
• The Chicago native batted .500/.700/.833 as he helped the Flames to four wins, including a sweep of conference foe Northern Kentucky on the road.
• Patrick tallied six hits, including two doubles and a triple, collected four RBI and scored eight times.
• He batted leadoff and set the table for an offense that scored 53 runs in four games, an average of 13.3 per victory.
• In six #HLBase games this season, Patrick is batting .409/.536/.636 with nine hits, seven runs, four RBI and six walks.
• This is the ninth individual award from a member of the Flames this season. Scott Ota (2x), Alex Dee and Dominic Smith have all been named Batter of the Week, while Ryan Campbell (2x), Reid Birlingmair and Charlie Cerny have each picked up Pitcher of the Week honor this spring.

PITCHING PROWESS

• The Flames lead the Horizon League and rank 23rd nationally with a 3.24 ERA in 2018. No other team in UIC's conference owns an ERA below 4.10 past the halfway mark in conference play.
• UIC's team ERA through 15 conference games - 3.45  - is second in the League behind WSU (3.28)
• Individually, the Flames have four of the top 10 ERA's in the conference. Wyatt Trautwein (0.87) and Charlie Cerny (0.91) rank fourth and fifth, respectively. Ryan Campbell (1.89) ranks seventh and Reid Birlingmair (2.13) is 10th.
• 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).

TOUGH OTA

• UIC junior Scott Ota is one of the toughest outs in the Flames' lineup. He's hitting .323/.396/.523 and ranks as the 26^th toughest hitter to strikeout nationally, fanning only once every 13.0 plate appearances in 2018.
• Ota leads the Flames and ranks in the Horizon League's top seven in both batting average (7^th - .323) and slugging percentage (6^th - .523). He also has a team-best four home runs this season.
• Ota leads UIC in both multi-hit (13) and multi-RBI (10) games. He owns the longest active on-base streak at 16 straight games entering Tuesday.
• 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.

NOTES ON NORTHWESTERN

• UIC owns a six-game winning streak over their counterparts from Evanston spanning the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The Flames have outscored the Wildcats 42-9 over the last six games of the series. Four of the six games have been won by at least six runs.
• Northwestern is 9-24 on the season and 1-14 in Big Ten play. The 'Cats have dropped seven straight decisions since topping ACC foe Notre Dame, 2-0, on April 10.
• Tuesday marks NU's second straight non-conference game against an Horizon League club. Milwaukee, which will visit Granderson Stadium this weekend, topped the Wildcats 6-4 at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park on April 17.
• NU is hitting .225 as a club. Jack Dunn, cousin of UIC's Wyatt Trautwein, is the lone Wildcat batting north of .300 at .301. He also has a team-high 14 stolen bases.
• Southpaw Ryan Bader will start Tuesday's game on the mound. He has made 11 appearances and will be making his second career start. He owns 12 strikeouts in 22.0 innings of work.

More notes, statistics and information are available in the UIC Game Notes (PDF) linked in the blue box above.