CHICAGO -- The UIC baseball team closes out the home portion of its season this weekend, as the Flames play host to Youngstown State in a four-game series featuring the No. 2 and 3 teams in the conference standings.

FIRST PITCH
• The Flames take an eight-game winning streak into the series, having swept Milwaukee on the road last weekend. Over the course of the four-game series, UIC outscored the Panthers 30-5, including a pair of 10-run games and a 7-0 shutout in the series finale.
• The Flames are one of the top teams in the country in turning double plays. The team's 29 double plays turned is second in the conference and 37th nationally while their .88 double plays per game is tops in the conference and 23rd in the country.

SENIOR DAY SEND-OFF
• This weekend marks the final regular season home games, and the Flames will recognize its graduating class following Sunday's series finale.
• Matt Bottcher, Alex Dee, Fred Gosbeth, Jacob Key, Bobby Nicholson, Thomas Norton, Ryan O'Reilly, Thomas Smart and Brett Tressen will all be honored as part of the Senior Day ceremony.
• The nine Flames have been a part of 145 career victories, two Horizon League Championship teams, one Horizon League regular season championship squad and appeared in two NCAA regionals. 

NEAR NO-NO
• Jacob Key fell one out shy of throwing the 11th no-hitter in UIC history with his outing against Purdue Fort Wayne on April 16.
• Key threw 8.2 innings of no-hit baseball, allowing a walk and a batter to reach via error, before an infield single with two outs in the ninth broke up the no-hit bid. Key proceeded to pick the runner off first to end the game and complete the one-hit victory.
• For his effort, Key was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week.
• Key leads the team in wins (5), ERA (2.26) and complete games (4). His four complete games are second in the conference and fourth nationally while his 2.26 ERA is 56th nationally.

SETTING THE TABLE
• Thomas Smart, the only UIC player to start in every game, has batted in the leadoff position and played in right field in all 33 contests this year.
• Smart has excelled in the spot, ranking first in the Horizon League in batting average (.376), first in on base percentage (.507) and first in hit by pitches (9).
• Smart's .507 on base percentage is 23rd-best among all Division I players.
• The right fielder is also one of four Flames tied for second in the Horizon League with three triples on the season.

ON A STREAK
• Bryan Rosario, who has started in 32 of 33 games for the Flames this season, was on a 16-game hitting streak before going hitless in the series finale against Oakland, the longest hitting streak for the Flames this season.
• The redshirt junior, who did not appear in any games in his first season with UIC a year ago, is second on the team in hits (42).
• Thomas Smart is UIC's active hitting streak leader, taking a five-game hitting streak into this weekend.
• Rosario and Joshua Figueroa has the active team lead for consecutive games reaching base at 14, tied for the third longest streak this season.