CHICAGO -- The UIC baseball team remains at home, welcoming Purdue Fort Wayne to town for a four-game series, April 16-18. Sunday's series finale against the Mastodons will be broadcast on ESPN3.

FIRST PITCH
•    UIC won its second series of the season, taking 2-of-3 games from the visiting Norse last time out. The Flames picked up 15-11 and 13-6 victories before dropping the finale by a 8-5 margin. Joshua Figueroa was named the Horizon League Batter of the Week for his efforts, hitting two home runs while going 7-for-11 at the plate with 5 RBIs.
•    The Flames currently own the top two Horizon League among qualified hitters as Thomas Smart leads the league with a .398 average while Bryan Rosario ranks second with a .371 batting average. Matt Bottcher is also in the top 10, ranking eighth (.347).

SETTING THE TABLE
•    Thomas Smart, the only UIC player to start in every game, has batted in the leadoff position in all 25 contests this year.
•    Smart has excelled in the spot, ranking first in the Horizon League in batting average (.398), on base percentage (.530) and hit by pitch (8).
•    Smart's .530 on base percentage is ninth-best among all Division I players while his .398 batting average is 48th-best in the country.
•    The right fielder is also one of three Flames tied for second in the Horizon League with two triples on the season.

LOPEZ SHUTS DOWN OAKLAND
•    Senior Cristian Lopez shut down the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on April 2 en route to being named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week on April 6.
•    The righty threw a complete-game two-hitter, leading the Flames to a 6-0 victory over Oakland. Over the course of the seven-inning contest, Lopez surrendered a single in the first and second innings before dominating the rest of the way.
•    The right hander struck out four, did not surrender a walk in the outing and allowed just a pair of base runners over the final five innings. Lopez finished in impressive fashion, retiring the final six batters in order to secure the win.

ON A STREAK
•    Bryan Rosario, who has started in 24 of 25 games for the Flames this season, was on a 16-game hitting streak before going hitless in the series finale against Oakland.
•    The redshirt junior, who did not appear in any games in his first season with UIC a year ago, ranks second on the team in hits (33).
•    Smart and Figueroa are currently tied for the active team lead, taking a six-game hitting streak into this weekend.
•    Freshman Cole Conn has the active team lead for consecutive games reaching base at 12, trailing Rosario (16) and Smart (18) for the longest streak this season.