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UIC Athletics

thevalley
Sean Dee
Steve Woltmann
20
Winner UIC UIC 26-21, 18-11 Horizon
4
Northern Kentucky NKU 14-40, 12-18 Horizon
Winner
UIC UIC
26-21, 18-11 Horizon
20
Final
4
Northern Kentucky NKU
14-40, 12-18 Horizon
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
UIC UIC 1 4 1 8 0 4 1 1 0 20 19 1
Northern Kentucky NKU 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 4

W: Martin, Patrick (3-4) L: MERCER, Proctor (2-6)

Game Recap: Baseball |

UIC Explodes for 20 Runs in Regular Season Finale

Flames secure No. 2 seed in Horizon League Championship

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – UIC scored early and often on Saturday afternoon to breeze past the Northern Kentucky Norse, 20-4, and secure the second seed in the upcoming Horizon League Championship.

The Flames (26-21, 18-11 Horizon League) won by their largest margin of victory this season to finish the regular season in a second-place tie with the Milwaukee Panthers after the latter lost at Youngstown State on Saturday, 9-3. UIC won four of its five contests against Milwaukee this season, thus holding the tiebreaker that leads to a first-round bye.

Ryan Lin-Peistrup had a career-high five hits and drove in a career-best five runs to lead the offensive attack for the Flames, while Derrick Patrick and Sean Dee registered three RBI each. Scott Ota was one of three UIC batters to hit a home run Saturday, and his was the 19th of the year to set the program's single-season record for long balls.

The UIC bullpen threw 5.2 perfect innings to finish the game Saturday. Nick Oliff (2.2), Sam Menegat (1.0), Mark McCabe (1.0) and Alex Padilla (1.0) did not allow a baserunner and combined for seven strikeouts on the afternoon.

How It Happened
  • The Flames wasted little time getting out in front on Saturday. Ota doubled with two outs in the bottom of the first inning before Ryan Hampe flipped a base hit to the opposite field in right to give UIC a quick 1-0 advantage.
  • The visitors continued to add to the lead in the second. With the bases loaded, Derrick Patrick rifled a two-run single that scored Thomas Smart and Joshua Figueroa. Lin-Peistrup then singled to plate David Becker and Hampe later picked up a sacrifice fly that scored Patrick and put the Flames in front, 5-0.
  • The lead grew to six in the top of the third. Sean Dee doubled to lead off the frame and eventually scored on a wild pitch in the inning. NKU loaded the bases in the bottom of the frame and picked up a two-out, two-run single that cut its deficit to four runs.
  • UIC blew the contest wide open in the top of the fourth, scoring eight times to take a 14-2 lead. Dee cleared the bases with a three-run double, Figueroa notched an RBI single, Patrick drove in another run on a base hit and Lin-Peistrup cranked a three-run home run, his first of the season, to expand the advantage for the Flames.
  • The Norse got a two-run home run from Will Haueter in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut UIC's lead to 10 runs. NKU would never get closer, and in fact, would not score again.
  • Figueroa continued the offensive onslaught for the Flames with a solo home run that led off the sixth inning and gave UIC a 15-4 edge. Becker followed with a double and soon scored on another base hit from Lin-Peistrup. The next batter, Ota, clobbered his 19th home run of the season to straightaway center field, a two-run shot.
  • Becker hit an RBI double in the top of the seventh, while Lin-Peistrup scored UIC's 20th run on an RBI groundout from Alex Dee in the eighth to dictate the final margin of victory, UIC's largest of the season.
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Notable
  • Scott Ota's sixth-inning home run was his 19th of 2019, helping him to set the UIC single-season record. That is the greatest output for any Horizon League hitter since Jeff Haase (22) and Keith Lillash (19) reached that number for the Cleveland State Vikings in 2000.
  • Ota hit 13 of his of 19 home runs in 29 Horizon League games.
  • The senior moved into second place on UIC's all-time RBI list, now with 156 in a Flames uniform. He trails the program's all-time leader, Frank Provenzano (1985-87), by four.
  • Ota also passed Curtis Granderson (2000-02) on Saturday to move into 10th place on UIC's all-time list for hit leaders. He now has 223 and is tied with Jody Brown (1992-95) for ninth place.
  • Ota owns 18 multi-hit games this season and 17 multi-RBI games, including Saturday. He hit safely in 27 of 29 Horizon League games.
  • Ryan Lin-Peistrup became the ninth different UIC hitter to blast a home run in 2019. His three-run shot in the fourth inning was the first of his career.
  • Lin-Peistrup racked up a career-high five RBI for the Flames. He became the second different UIC batter to register at least five RBI in a game this season. Ota did it twice.
  • The UIC shortstop became the third player this season to record five hits in a game this spring, joining Ryan Hampe and Matt Bottcher.
  • UIC has won eight of 10 games in May, and six of its last seven overall.
  • UIC won an Horizon League series outside of Chicago for the first time since sweeping a weather-shortened two-game set at Milwaukee on March 29-30.
  • The Flames won five of six games against the Norse in the regular season. UIC is now 18-5 all-time against Northern Kentucky and 7-3 all-time at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
On Deck
  • UIC will be the No. 2 seed in the Horizon League Championship next week. That automatically advances the Flames to the double-elimination portion of the tournament.
  • The Flames will play the lowest remaining seed on Thursday, May 23 at 2 p.m. CT.
  • Regular-season champion Wright State will host the tournament. The Raiders are the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 UIC, No. 3 Milwaukee, No. 4 Northern Kentucky, No. 5 Oakland and No. 6 Youngstown State.
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