FORT WAYNE, IND. – Five Flames combined to shut out Purdue Fort Wayne Sunday (May 16) afternoon as the UIC baseball team completed it four-game sweep of the Mastodons with a 10-0 victory.
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The Flames, who scored double digit runs in all four games of the series, picked up a game-high three RBIs from
Joshua Figueroa, who finished the day 3-for-3 at the plate with a walk. He was one of four Flames to register an extra base hit, as he,
Bryan Rosario,
Matt Bottcher and
Thomas Norton (twice) all had doubles Sunday afternoon.
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Teague Conrad had his first collegiate start in a bullpen game for the Flames. The sophomore earned the win, throwing two scoreless innings while striking out a pair.
Tanner Shears (3 IP, 3 K),
Fred Gosbeth (2 IP, 2 K),
Nate Davis (1 IP) and
Joey Morris (1 IP) combined to limit the Mastodon offense to six hits and nine strikeouts.
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UIC jumped out to an early lead, plating a pair of runs in the first inning of action. With one away,
Bryan Rosario doubled to right center before advancing to third on a balk and scoring on a wild pitch.
Joshua Figueroa walked with two away in the first and came all the way around to score on a throwing error by the Mastodon catcher.
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The Flames' lead ballooned to 5-0 in the second as three more runners came home to score. A throwing error brought
Ryan Lin-Peistrup in from third, a wild pitch allowed
Sean Dee to scamper home and an RBI single by Bottcher pushed the advantage to 5-0 in favor of the visitors.
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Back-to-back hits by UIC in the fourth pushed the lead to 7-0.
Thomas Smart singled with one out in the inning and moved to second on a groundout by Rosario. Bottcher doubled and Figueroa followed with a single as the Flames' lead continued to grow.
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With the lead at 7-0, UIC used a three-run sixth to build its lead to 10-0. Figueroa roped a one-out double to right center to drive home Rosario and Smart before Norton followed with his second double of the day to plate Figueroa from second.
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UIC will close out the regular season next weekend, hitting the road to take on Northern Kentucky in a four-game series.