ROCHESTER, Mich. – The UIC baseball team swept Oakland in dramatic fashion, scoring four runs in the top of the ninth to come from behind to defeat the Golden Grizzlies, 5-2, in Sunday's series finale.
 
Sunday's action began with the resumption of Saturday evening's game, which was halted after seven innings due to darkness. With the Flames leading 13-1 entering the eighth, Matt Bottcher tacked on a two-run shot to help close out a 15-2 victory.
 
Saturday Game 2 Recap
The Flames (6-11, 5-6 HL) scored early and often on Oakland (8-14, 2-9 HL), scoring four runs in the second, third and fifth innings while adding on a run in the top of the sixth to jump out to a commanding 13-0 lead.
 
Back-to-back walks by Bottcher and Cole Conn led off the top of the second and put the Flames in business. With two away and the bases loaded, Sean Dee singled to short to drive in the first run of the game before Thomas Smart cleared the bases with a double to left center.
 
Bottcher led off the third and singled before stealing second. The second baseman would come around to score on an RBI single by Cory Moore to make it 5-0. Joshua Figueroa doubled to make it 6-0, with Dee doubling later in the inning to extend the advantage to seven. Smart followed Dee's double with a run-scoring single as UIC led 8-0 after three.
 
Dee's hot hitting continued in the fifth, as he launched a three-run shot to left to push the UIC advantage up to 11-0. Bottcher added another run to the Flames tally with a two-out double to right to drive home Smart. The lead grew to 13-0 in the sixth when Bryan Rosario singled with the bases loaded, allowing Figueroa to score.
 
Oakland got on the board with a run in the bottom of the seventh, and action was called following the inning due to darkness.
 
The teams resumed action Sunday afternoon, with the Golden Grizzlies tacking on a run in the eighth before Bottcher ended the scoring spree with a two-run homer down the right field line to close out the 15-2 victory.
 
Dee finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 4-for-5 with five RBIs while Smart added 4 RBIs of his own on a 2-for-2 day at the plate. Bottcher chipped in a trio of runs batted in behind a 3-for-5 performance hitting.
 
Ryan O'Reilly earned the win, throwing six shutout innings while allowing two hits and two walks and striking out seven.
 
The 15 runs are a season high for the Flames and the most since UIC scored 18 in an 18-10 win over Milwaukee on May 23, 2019 in the opening round of the Horizon League Championship while the 18 hits are the most since a 19-hit effort against Northern Kentucky to close out the regular season that same year.
 
Sunday Recap
It was a pitcher's dual early in the series finale, as both teams mustered just one hit each through four innings while each scoring a run.
 
The Flames' run came in the top of the second when Bottcher led off the inning with a double. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch to give UIC the 1-0 lead.
 
Oakland evened the score at 1-all in the bottom of the third while a throwing error by the Flames allowed a run to come across.
 
The Golden Grizzlies took their first of the series in the fifth when a run came home to score from third on a failed pickoff attempt.
 
UIC's offense, limited to just four hits over the first eight innings of action, came to life in the ninth to help secure the series sweep. Ryan Nagelbach walked and Bottcher singled to lead off the inning. Conn reached on a fielder's choice and Tomas Norton was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one away.
 
Figueroa doubled down the left field line, putting the Flames in front, 3-2, as Conn and Bottcher raced around to score. Dee lifted a sac fly to center, allowing Norton to extend the lead to 4-2 before Ryan Lin-Peistrup doubled to left to make the score 5-2 in favor of the visitors.
 
Chris Torres who came on in relief to earn the win, induced a double play to end the game and secure the four-game sweep of Oakland.
 
UIC remains on the road to take on Youngstown State, April 1-3.