CHICAGO -- The second-seeded UIC Flames will begin their quest toward securing a second Horizon League championship in the last three seasons on Thursday, May 23, when they open play in the conference tournament at Nischwitz Stadium on the campus of Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio.

The Flames (26-21, 18-11 Horizon League) tied Milwaukee for second place in the League standings, but received the second seed by virtue of a 4-1 head-to-head record against the third-seeded Panthers this season.

UIC will open the double-elimination tournament on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT against No. 3 Milwaukee. The Panthers opened the tournament by taking out No. 6 Youngstown State on Wednesday, 12-3.

PITCHING PROWESS

• The Flames lead the Horizon League and rank 17^th nationally with a 3.53 ERA in 2019. No other team in UIC's conference owns an ERA below 4.13 through the end of the regular season.
• UIC's team ERA through 29 conference games - 3.49  - is also the League's best mark.
• The Flames enter the week ranked 30^th nationally in both walks/9.0 IP (3.31) and WHIP (1.29).
• UIC is one of five NCAA teams to rank in the top 20 in the country in ERA in each of the past three seasons.
• The exclusive group also includes: UCLA, Oregon State, Stanford, and Texas A&M.
• Head coach Mike Dee's team finished third in the NCAA in ERA in 2018 (2.98), after ranking second in 2017 (2.65).

KEY TO SUCCESS

• Junior Jacob Key became the third different UIC hurler to be named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year in as many seasons on Tuesday.
• The right-hander boasted a 3.12 ERA during the regular season, 11^th-best in the conference and tops among all throwers with at least four starts.
• Key tossed a League-best 95.1 innings and ranked second in the League with an opposing batting average of .227. He was third with 86 strikeouts.
• The Murfreesboro, Tenn., native tied for the League lead with 64 Ks in conference play, including 23 that went down looking.
• He and won the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week Award twice (March 12 and May 6).
• Key has made nine quality starts and six have come against conference foes.
• Earlier this month Key, who has a 3.95 GPA, was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Team for the second consecutive year.

OH MY, OTA

• Despite the fact that the Horizon League coaches voted him onto the All-League Second Team, Scott Ota has been one of the most productive hitters in the country in 2019.
• The senior set UIC's single-season home run record (19) and hit more home runs in a year than any Horizon League player since 2000, when Cleveland State's Jeff Haase hit 22 and teammate Keith Lillash had 19.
• Ota ranks eighth in the NCAA in slugging percentage through May 21 at a clip of .761. He's the first Horizon League hitter inside the top 10 nationally in slugging percentage since CSU's Lillash (5th) and Haase (7th) in 2000.
• Ota enters the tournament ranked ninth nationally in home runs per game (0.4), 15^th in RBI per game (1.21) and 29^th in total bases (137).
• The Foster City, Calif., native slashed .398/.489/.841 in 29 Horizon League games this spring. He also led the conference in both home runs (13) and RBI (37) in League play.
• The right fielder hit safely in 27 of 29 conference games and 37 of 47 overall. He led the team with 18 multi-hit games and 17 multi-RBI games.
• Ota homered twice in a game on three occasions doing so at Milwaukee (March 29), vs. Northern Kentucky (April 12) and vs. Illinois State (April 16). In the game against NKU, he had a career-high seven RBI. The following day he tied a career-high with four hits against the Norse.
• He posted the team's longest hitting streak (20) and on-base streak (29) during the current season. The hitting streak was the longest for any UIC player since Jason Ganek ended the 2010 season on a 20-game stretch with at least a hit.
• Ota was named Horizon League Batter of the Week three times this spring to take his career total to seven. No other player in Horizon League history has won as many Batter of the Week accolades. Pitcher Chris Andrzejak of Detroit is the only hurler to win seven weekly honors.

SIX IS A MAGIC NUMBER

• UIC is 19-0 this season when scoring at least six runs, and 7-21 when held to five runs or fewer.
• The Flames were 14-0 in the 2019 regular season when scoring at least six times against Horizon League opponents.
• The offense erupted for 10+ runs in seven conference games, and it scored at least 20 runs twice against League foes. UIC scored 21 runs in a 15-run victory at Milwaukee on March 30, and scored 20 times in a 16-run triumph over Northern Kentucky in the regular season finale on May 18.
• UIC's longest winning streak of the season so far has been six games. The Flames defeated Youngstown State (1), Northern Illinois (1), Northern Kentucky (3) and Illinois State (1) between April 7-16.

CLOSING TIME

• Redshirt senior Alex Padilla was named the Horizon League Relief Pitcher of the Year for the second time in three seasons on Tuesday. He is also a member of the All-League First Team for the second time since 2017.
• Padilla posted the conference's best ERA at 1.05 and he led the Horizon League by finishing 23 games for the Flames.
• The Chicagoan appeared in a team-high 24 contests and converted all six save opportunities he received.
• Padilla struck out 25 batters in 25.2 innings of work and registered multiple strikeouts in seven of his outings.
• He has allowed only three earned runs in 2019, and only one since March 16 against Oakland.
• Opponents batted .110 against Padilla during the regular season. He's allowed nine hits this year, only one of which has gone for extra bases. Oakland's Blake Griffith doubled on March 16, but Padilla still earned his first save of the season in that game.
• He is the second pitcher in conference history to earn this award multiple times, joining Wright State's Andrew Elliott (2014 and 2015). He is only the fourth player to win multiple Horizon League specialty awards. In addition to Padilla and Elliott, Butler's Justin Beasley was the Player of the Year in 1996 and 1998, while Padilla's former UIC teammate, Jake Dahlberg, was the Pitcher of the Year in 2015 and 2017.
• Padilla was a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) All-America Third Team selection in 2017. He ranks second in program history with 24 saves, six behind the all-time leader Brett Davis.
• Since Elliott won the Relief Pitcher of the Year honor in 2014 and 2015, only UIC Flames have claimed the award. Trevor Lane won in 2016 before Padilla in 2017. Charlie Cerny was the Relief Pitcher of the Year in 2018.

HAMMERIN' HAMPE

• UIC freshman Ryan Hampe has been a boon to the Flames lineup in his first collegiate season. He batted a team-high .363 as he earned All-Horizon League First Team honors as a designated hitter, and also a spot on the All-Freshman Team.
• The New Lenox, Ill., native ranked second in the conference in batting average and 70^th among all NCAA hitters entering the week.
• Hampe owns the third-best batting average among all first-year players around the country.
• He hit .389 in League play and ranked fifth in the conference 13 doubles. Ten of his two-base hits came against Horizon League opponents.
• The fabulous freshman is tied for the conference lead with five sacrifice flies and he is the third-toughest hitter in the Horizon League to strikeout, going down only once every 9.7 at-bats. (WSU's Tyler Black and Chase Slone fan once every 10.5 at-bats.)
• A catcher by trade, Hampe started as the designated hitter 33 times and five times behind the plate. He was inserted into the cleanup spot a team-high 28 times, with UIC winning 18 of those contests.
• Hampe ranked second on the team behind Scott Ota in RBI (39), slugging percentage (.493), hits (53), multi-hit games (15) and multi-RBI games (11).

For more notes, information and statistics, please click the UIC Game Notes PDF in the blue box above.