CHICAGO -- UIC will look to continue its winning ways in Horizon League play when it hosts the Milwaukee Panthers in a three-game series at Granderson Stadium over the weekend. Originally scheduled to begin Friday night, rain in the forecast will push the first game of the set to Saturday when the rivals will begin game one of a doubleheader at 12:05 p.m. CT.

The Flames (20-14, 8-7 Horizon League) have won three straight over League foes with a road sweep at Northern Kentucky last weekend. The offense exploded 36 runs in the series and the pitching staff held the high-powered Norse in check as it helped UIC win by an average of 7.7 runs per game.

Milwaukee (16-19, 9-6 Horizon League) won all three Horizon League games it played last weekend, topping Youngstown State in Ohio as the home team. The Panthers have won five of six in League play dating back to April 8 against NKU. In between the series against NKU and YSU, Milwaukee was slated to play the Flames three times, but those games were canceled as a result of 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 15^th nationally with a 3.15 ERA in 2018. No other team in UIC's conference owns an ERA below 4.12 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 eight ERA's in the conference. Wyatt Trautwein (0.72) and Charlie Cerny (0.91) rank third and fourth, respectively. Ryan Campbell (1.89) ranks sixth and Reid Birlingmair (2.08) is eighth.
• 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).

TRAUTWEIN TAKES THE BALL

• After primarily being utilized as a relief pitcher during his UIC career, senior Wyatt Trautwein has made three starts on the mound in the month of April.
• The Barrington, Ill., native has allowed one earned run in 15.0 innings since April 8.
• Trautwein pitched a career-high 5.2 innings on April 8 against Wright State, his first start. He posted a career-high six strikeouts against Viterbo on April 17.
• He owns a 0.72 ERA in eight total appearances this season, which ranks third in the Horizon League entering the weekend.

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.
• The senior needed 98 pitches to take down the Cougars. That is the sixth fewest in a 9-inning complete game for any NCAA hurler this season.
• The Carmel, Ind., native 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 (62.0 IP) and the leader, WSU's Ryan Weiss (62.2 IP) has one additional start.
• In League play, Campbell owns a 2.90 ERA in five starts and 31 strikeouts in 31.0 IP. He fanned a career-high nine in 7.0 IP in his last start at Northern Kentucky.
• Last season, Campbell made 14 of his 16 appearances out of the bullpen for UIC.

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (UIC vs. Milwaukee)

• Saturday, April 28 (Game 1): RHP Ryan Campbell (5-2, 1.89 ERA) vs. RHP Austin Schulfer (4-4, 3.82 ERA)
• Saturday, April 28 (Game 2): RHP Charlie Cerny (3-1, 0.91 ERA) vs. RHP Jake Sommers (3-6, 5.73 ERA)
• Sunday, April 29: RHP Jacob Key (2-4, 3.33 ERA) vs. RHP Jared Reklaitis (3-2, 5.77 ERA)

More notes, statistics and information can be found in the UIC Series Notes PDF linked in the blue box above.