CHICAGO – The UIC softball team (22-20, 12-3 HL) will tie a bow on the 2019 home slate this week, as they welcome Green Bay (11-21, 6-9 HL) to Chicago for a three-game series. The Flames and Phoenix will play two on Tuesday, April 23 starting at 4 p.m. CT and will finish out the series on Wednesday, April 24 with a single game at 3 p.m. CT.

LAST TIME OUT
UIC's offensive surge carried into the weekend, as the Flames took two of three at home against Northern Kentucky. The Flames fell 4-2 in the opener but rebounded with a 17-9 (5) win in game one of Saturday's doubleheader and finishing the series with a 7-4 win in the finale. The Flames tallied a season-high 21 hits in Saturday's run-rule win, as every batter recorded a hit in the effort.

WEEKLY WARRIORS
Junior Kayla Wedl was named Horizon League Player of the Week on Monday (April 22) for her outstanding effort at the plate last week, batting .636 with 14 hits, 14 runs and 16 RBI in UIC's six games. The junior belted six homers on the week, racking up a 1.500 slugging percentage and a .609 on-base percentage to earn the seventh Horizon League weekly award of her career and her third of the season. As a team, the Flames have taken home six Horizon League weekly awards this year.

OFFENSIVE PROWESS
UIC is batting .317 as a squad to rank 20th in the nation, and its .489 slugging percentage comes in at No. 31 in the country. The trio of Lexi Watts, Skylee James and Wedl lead UIC's offensive efforts, as all three batters rank in the nation's top 30 in batting average. Watts sits at the top of the list in seventh, batting .461, followed by James in 16th with a .441 average and Wedl in 26th batting .432. All three also make the top 50 in hits, as Watts leads the way in 30th with 59, followed by Wedl in 40th with 57 and James in 47th with 56. Watts comes in at 10th in the nation in both on-base percentage (.552) and runs per game (1.17), and her 0.67 stolen bases per game comes puts her at 16th nationwide. Wedl is averaging 1.17 RBI per game, which is good for 12th in the nation.

James and Wedl are both riding a career-high hitting streak after this weekend, successfully hitting in the last 13 and 12 games, respectively. Cassie Kaelber is also swinging a hot bat, pushing her career-high hit streak to 12 games this weekend as well.

IN THE CIRCLE
UIC pitchers have allowed the second-fewest hits in the League, giving up 97 hits on the season. The Flames staff has given up 49 earned runs, third lowest in the conference, and its .269 opponent batting average is also third lowest in the League. Jennah Speth's 2.00 ERA in conference games ranks third among Horizon League pitchers, while Marley Hanlon's 2.59 ERA ranks seventh. Allie Trudeau leads the Flames with 60 strikeouts this season, good for eleventh in the conference, while Karissa Frazier's 31 strikeouts ties her for 14th.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Green Bay is sixth in the Horizon League with a 6-9 record in conference games. The Phoenix dropped two out of three this past weekend against Detroit Mercy, winning the opener 5-3 before losing the next two, 2-0 and 6-4. Green Bay's .257 team batting average ranks sixth in the conference, and its 116 RBI comes in at seventh. The Phoenix pitching staff owns the third-lowest ERA in the League at 3.96, and their 238 hits allowed is the fewest around the conference. The Flames own a 67-22 all-time record against Green Bay, sweeping last year's series at Flames Field.

UP NEXT
The Flames will hit the road this weekend to face second-place Youngstown State April 26-27.