HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The UIC baseball team secured a doubleheader sweep of Northern Kentucky Saturday (May 22) afternoon, claiming the first game by a 5-4 margin before UIC's bats erupted for 24 runs on 26 hits in a 24-10 victory in Game 2.
 
In Game 2 of the twin bill, UIC hit 12 doubles while the Norse added five, matching the NCAA Division I record for doubles in a game by two teams. Pace (12) and Iona (5) set the record on May 1, 1987 while UMBC (11) and Quinnipiac (6) matched the record back on April 29, 2002.
 
The Flames' 24 runs scored in the second game Saturday are the most since April 11, 2006, when UIC defeated Milwaukee by a 24-2 margin.
 
Thomas Smart was nearly perfect at the plate, finishing the doubleheader 7-for-8 with a pair of doubles and five driven in to go along with a walk and two hit by pitches. Cory Moore continued his hot week of hitting, finishing with three home runs and 11 RBIs on the day.
 
Smart and Moore were 2-of-7 Flames to record multi-hit days, with Ryan Lin-Peistrup, Thomas Norton, Joshua Figueroa, Matt Bottcher and Garrett McCarthy all finishing the doubleheader with at least two hits.
 
Game 1 Recap
UIC pushed the tempo early, scoring in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. Smart was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, moved to second on a walk, advanced to third on a fly out and scored on an RBI groundout.
 
After the Norse evened the score at 1-all, UIC used a three-run fourth to take a 4-1 lead. Moore drove in a pair on a double before coming around to score on a single by Smart.
 
NKU pulled within a run at 4-3 prior to Fred Gosbeth entering the game at the top of the sixth. The graduate student worked himself into a one-out bases loaded jam but maintained the lead by striking out the final two batters of the inning.
 
The Flames secured a crucial insurance run in the top of the seventh behind another manufactured run. Bottcher walked to lead off the inning before stealing second. The graduate student came around to score on the run-scoring single by Norton.
 
Northern Kentucky scored a run in the bottom of the seventh but Gosbeth closed the door on the one-run victory to pick up his team-leading sixth save of the year.
 
Game 2 Recap
Game 2 featured a combined 34 runs and 40 hits between the two teams, with the fourth inning being the only inning in which neither team scored. The Flames scored in eighth of its nine innings of action while the Norse scored in five innings Saturday afternoon.
 
After UIC took a 1-0 lead in the first, NKU countered with a pair in the home half of the inning. The lead would not last long, as a Smart double drove in a pair in the top of the second before coming home on a Bottcher double to the gap.
 
The teams traded runs, eventually entering the sixth tied at four-all. UIC began to bust the game open with a four-run sixth inning, with Moore's three-run shot setting the stage for what was to come. Moore tacked on another three-run home run in the seventh and a two-run blast in the ninth, finishing the game 4-for-5 with nine driven in.
 
UIC put the game out of reach with seven runs on seven hits in the seventh, using a home run, two triples, three doubles and a single to take a 17-6 lead.
 
Five more Flames came around in the eighth and two more scored on the Moore home run in the ninth, while the Norse tacked on a single run in the seventh and a trio of runs in the eighth.
 
The Flames and Norse will wrap up the regular season with the series finale Sunday afternoon, with first pitch slated for 11 a.m. (CT).