Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CHICAGO – UIC and Wright State, two longtime Horizon League rivals, battled on the diamond twice Saturday afternoon with each squad claiming a victory. The Flames took the opener, 2-1, while the Raiders responded with a 7-1 win in the nightcap.
 
UIC (16-11, 5-6 Horizon League) snapped a five-game skid with the victory in game one. Bowen Ogata and Dominic Smith drove in runs to support a strong effort on the hill from Ryan Campbell, Noah Masa and Charlie Cerny.
 
Wright State (17-11, 7-4 Horizon League) scored first in the second game, but the bottom of the order produced a two-out run to tie it in the bottom of the fifth. That would be the only tally the Flames could plate as the Raiders scored twice in the sixth, once in the eighth and three times in the ninth to pull away.
 
How It Happened – Game 1
UIC started the scoring Saturday with two out in the bottom of the first inning. Scott Ota ripped a triple that carried to the base of the wall in center field, putting himself in scoring position. He would go on to cross the plate when the next hitter, Bowen Ogata, smashed a 2-2 pitch toward the hot corner. WSU's Seth Gray made a diving stop, but by the time he threw over to first base, Ogata was safe and Ota had scored to give UIC a 1-0 lead.
 
The Raiders evened the score with one swing in the top of the fourth. After flying out to the fence in right field in his first at-bat, Gabe Snyder cleared it in his second with a solo home run, his eighth of the season. WSU looked to add on with two on and two out, but Ryan Campbell got a harmless fly ball to Dominic Smith in center field that ended the inning.
 
UIC broke through again against Weiss and the Raiders in the top of the sixth. Ota drew a base on balls and went from first-to-third on Ogata's single to right-center field. Two batters later, Smith flared a ball to the right side that plated Ota as the go-ahead run.
 
The Flames were poised to add on with runners at the corners and one out. Ota smashed a ball toward Snyder at first, but he was able to smother it and fire home to cut down Ryan Lin-Peistrup at the plate after he had singled to begin the frame. Ogata then fouled out to Snyder to end the inning.
 
Noah Masa came out of the bullpen with one down and two on in the top of the seventh, but he was able to get a couple of fly balls to center field to get out of that inning. The redshirt junior reliever also fired a scoreless eighth before turning it over to Charlie Cerny in the top of the ninth. The junior worked around a two-out walk to retire Matt Morrow on a ground ball to second base to nail down his first career save and help the Flames hang on to a 2-1 triumph.
 
How It Happened – Game 2
The Raiders struck first in game two. With one away in the top of the second, center fielder Quincy Hamilton belted a solo home run that carried out to right field and gave Wright State a 1-0 advantage.
 
UIC scratched out a run with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth. Derrick Patrick muscled a ground-rule double to left field for his second hit of the game. Lin-Peistrup then delivered an RBI single as he shot a ball into left field that allowed Patrick to score with a head-first slide. That tally tied the score at a run apiece.
Unfortunately for the home nine, WSU answered right back with two runs in the top of the sixth. Morrow walked to open the inning and he made third on Peyton Burdick's ground-rule double. The next two batters – Snyder and Zane Harris – each hit sacrifice flies to center that allowed runs to come home and the Raiders to regain the lead, this time at 3-1.
 
Wright State pushed across a two-out run in the top of the eighth. Alex Alders hustled his way to an infield single with two down. Chase Slone then delivered a base hit back up the middle and into center field that scored Harris for the fourth Raider run of the ballgame.
 
The visitors tacked on three more in the ninth to set the final margin of victory.

Postgame Reaction

 

Beyond the Box Score

• The Flames have played a doubleheader as part of all four Horizon League series they have played this season. UIC is 4-4 in games that are part of a conference doubleheader and it has won the first game in three of the four weekend twinbills.
• The Flames moved to 10-4 at Granderson Stadium in 2018 and 5-3 in Horizon League home games.
• Charlie Cerny earned his first collegiate save in game one. He has made 10 consecutive scoreless appearances spanning 14.0 innings for the Flames.
• Ryan Campbell moved into a tie with teammate Reid Birlingmair with his fourth win of the season on the mound.
• Derrick Patrick had his second multi-hit game of the season in the second game of the day. The Chicagoan singled in his first at-bat and doubled in his second before scoring UIC's only run of the contest. He produced two of the team's four hits in the game.
• Jacob Key registered six strikeouts, marking the sixth time this season has had at least as many punchouts.
• Ryan Lin-Peistrup and Bowen Ogata each led UIC with three hits in the two games Saturday.

Up Next

• UIC and Wright State will play the rubber match of the three-game set on Sunday, April 8 at 12:05 p.m.
• The Raiders will send left-hander Zane Collins to the hill, while the Flames have not announced their starting pitcher.

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