CHICAGO -- UIC will host its final three home games of the regular at Granderson Stadium when the Youngstown State Penguins blow into the Windy City for a three-game set. The series begins on Friday, May 10 and the start time has been moved up to 4:35 p.m. The teams will continue the set on Saturday at 1:05 p.m., before wrapping up on Sunday, Senior Day and Mother's Day, at 12:05 p.m.

Following the conclusion of Sunday's finale, head coach Mike Dee and the program will recognize the following 11 members of the team who will play their final home games this weekend: David Becker, Joey Fredrickson, Riley Hebert, Patrick Martin, Noah Masa, Scott Ota, Alex Padilla, Derrick Patrick, Danny Riley, Dominic Smith and Braeden Toikka.

The Flames (21-20, 13-10 Horizon League) have won three of their last four games with a series victory over Milwaukee last weekend, followed by a win against the University of Chicago in the season's nonconference finale on Tuesday night. UIC enters the weekend in third place in the Horizon League standings, one game behind second-place Milwaukee. The Panthers host Oakland this weekend. Wright State currently leads the League with a record of 16-8 with a home series against Northern Kentucky scheduled for the upcoming weekend.

Two Flames are reigning Horizon League Players of the Week. Jacob Key set the tone on the mound for the Flames in the series-opening victory against Milwaukee on May 3. He allowed only two hits, both singles, over 8.0 shutout innings to help UIC cruise to an 8-1 victory. The junior retired the final 10 batters he faced in order, while holding the hot-hitting Panthers to a team batting average of .077 during the outing. Key struck out seven as he turned in his ninth quality start of the season, and second against Milwaukee. It was his second Horizon League Pitcher of the Week award this spring.

Key leads the conference in innings pitched (84.0) and is tied for third with 72 strikeouts. His 2.76 ERA is the best among all starting pitchers in the League. He is projected to start the series opener for UIC on Friday afternoon.

Scott Ota continued to crush Horizon League pitching this spring as he slashed .545/.643/1.091 as the Flames won the conference series against Milwaukee. The Foster City, Calif., native led UIC with six hits and four runs scored, while hitting two home runs and driving in four. In UIC's 8-1 win on Friday, the senior went 3-for-4 with a home run, a stolen base and two runs scored. Ota added two more hits and drove in another run on Saturday in the series-clinching 4-2 victory on Saturday. In the series finale, he walked twice and cranked his League-leading 17^th home run of the season in the bottom of the eighth inning, a two-run blast. Ota has been named the Horizon League Batter of the Week three times this spring and seven times in his career. He is the first three-time winner this season and his seven career weekly awards are three more than any player in Horizon League history.
 
Ota is batting .418 and slugging .846 in Horizon League games to lead the conference in both categories. His 11 home runs and 31 RBI against conference foes are also high marks, while he ranks third with 26 runs scored. He ranks fifth in the NCAA with 0.43 home runs per game and 10^th in slugging percentage (.778).
 
Youngstown State (12-34, 6-15 Horizon League) won the series the last time these two teams met in northeast Ohio in early April. On the season the Penguins are batting .236 as a team with Blaze Glenn doing much of the heavy lifting on offense. Glenn leads YSU with nine home runs, nine doubles and 42 RBI. He also has 17 stolen bases. Jeff Wehler boasts the top batting average, .293, and the most stolen bases with 28.

The pitching staff has a 7.85 ERA and opponents are batting .309 against the Penguins with 171 extra-base hits on the season.

Probable Pitching Matchups (UIC vs. YSU)
Friday: RHP Jacob Key (6-6, 2.79 ERA) vs. LHP Colin Clark (1-7, 6.53 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Joey Fredrickson (4-5, 4.64 ERA) vs. RHP Travis Perry (2-4, 7.35 ERA)
Sunday: LHP Patrick Martin (1-4, 4.73 ERA) vs. LHP Marco DeFalco (1-2, 6.89 ERA)