CHICAGO – UIC continued its dominance on the mound Sunday afternoon with a 2-0 shutout of the Milwaukee Panthers to complete a three-game series sweep.
 
Sophomore Jacob Key started the game for the Flames (23-14, 11-7 Horizon League) and he was nothing short of brilliant. The Murfreesboro, Tenn., native allowed only two hits in 7.0 scoreless innings of work. After a two-out single in the first from the Panthers (16-22, 9-9 Horizon League), Key retired 13 consecutive hitters through the fifth inning. Milwaukee opened the sixth with a base hit, but Key retired the next two before his catcher Aaron Ackerman threw out the runner to end the sixth.
 
Noah Masa and Alex Padilla combined to throw the final two innings in relief. Neither gave up a hit and both struck out one. Padilla picked up the game's final two outs to earn his sixth save of the season.
 
Dominic Smith continued to swing a hot bat as he drove in UIC's two runs, both on two-out base hits, and both to score Thomas Norton.
 
How It Happened
Following a two-out single in the top of the first, UIC's Jacob Key retired seven straight hitters through the top of the third and then the offense gave him the first edge of the day. Thomas Norton opened the home-half of the third with a base hit to the opposite field in right. The third baseman was at third following a passed ball and an infield single by Matt Bottcher and he would come home to score when Dominic Smith laced a base hit through the left side. The Flames were poised to add another run  when Scott Ota hit a ball destined for center field, but UWM's Trevor Schwecke made a terrific sliding play and throw to first to end the threat.
 
Norton ignited the offense once again in the bottom of the fifth. The junior walked to begin the inning and he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ryan Lin-Peistrup, and third on Derrick Patrick's grounder to second base. Norton then scored for the second time Sunday when Smith rifled a base hit the opposite way to right field with two away and two strikes in the count.
 
That was plenty of firepower for Key. He surrendered a second base hit, a single, to open the sixth inning, but got fly balls to Patrick in center and Smith in left for the first two outs. Then Mitch Buban, who had the hit, was out trying to steal second base by a wide margin to end the inning.
 
Key's outing was complete after 7.0 scoreless innings and 75 pitches. He turned the ball over to Noah Masa, who threw 1.1 perfect frames and Masa gave way to Padilla, who picked up two quick outs to nail down the victory and the series sweep.

Postgame Reaction

 





Beyond the Box Score

• The Flames posted their second consecutive series sweep in Horizon League play. UIC entered last weekend's set at Northern Kentucky with a mark of 5-7 in conference games before rattling off six straight wins to move up into second place.
• UIC did not issue a walk in the three-game series.
• The Flames held the Panthers to a total of nine hits in the three-game series and a batting average of .103. None of Milwaukee's nine hits went for extra bases.
• Dominic Smith batted .545 in the three-game series with six hits and five RBI to lead the Flames in both categories. He also had team-best slugging (.636) and on-base (.583) percentages. He was the only UIC player to drive in multiple runs during the three-game sweep.
• Thomas Norton scored both runs for the Flames. He is now one of four players who have scored at least 20 times this season, joining Scott Ota (26), Aaron Ackerman (22) and Derrick Patrick (21).
• Ota was 0-for-4 Sunday and his hitting streak and on-base streaks ended at nine and 19 games, respectively. He nearly extended both when he flew out deep to the warning track in his final at-bat Sunday.
• Alex Padilla picked up his sixth save of the season and his first in Horizon League play. He moved into a tie with David Haehnel for second place all-time at UIC with 16 career saves.
• The average game time for the three-game sweep was 1:55 with no game lasting more than 2:00.

 Up Next

• UIC will finish its six-game homestand this week when it hosts a pair of non-conference games at Granderson Stadium. The Flames will welcome the University of Chicago Maroons on Tuesday and the Benedictine Eagles on Wednesday.
• Both games will begin at 6:35 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN+.