CHICAGO -- The UIC baseball team heads back out on the road and out west for the second weekend in a row for a three-game series at California. The Flames and Golden Bears will meet for one game on Friday before capping the series with a doubleheader Saturday.

FIRST PITCH
•    The Flames picked up the first win of the season last week in the season opener, topping New Mexico State, 8-3, in 10 innings. Head coach Sean McDermott, making his Division I head coaching debut, collected his first Division I win as a head coach in the process.
•    UIC is in a stretch of 13 consecutive road games to start the season. UIC will return home for the first time on March 18 to start a three-game Horizon League series against Northern Kentucky.

PETERSON DAZZLES IN UIC DEBUT
•    Making his first collegiate start and his UIC debut, UIC lefty newcomer Nate Peterson dazzled for the Flames in the team's season opener against New Mexico State.
•    Peterson pitched 7.0 innings of one-run ball, walking two while striking out a career-high 13 batters.
•    The 13 strikeouts are tied for the sixth-most strikeouts in UIC single-game history, becoming the first Flame pitcher to fan 13 or more batters in a game since Ryan Zink against Saint Louis on March 7, 2004.
•    Peterson kept the Aggies offense at bay, and was in line to earn the win before New Mexico State forced extra innings with a ninth-inning rally to end the day with the no-decision. UIC went on to win the contest, 8-3, in 10 innings.

NEW SKIP
•    Sean McDermott became the fifth head coach in UIC baseball history this summer following the retirement of long-time head coach Mike Dee.
•    No stranger to UIC, McDermott is in his 24th season with the Flames, having worked under Mike Dee during Dee's 23 years as the head coach.
•    This is McDermott's first head coaching job in the Division I ranks, having previously been the head coach at Viterbo College (NAIA) for three seasons prior to joining UIC.

FIGUEROA NAMED PRESEASON THIRD TEAM ALL-AMERICAN
•    UIC graduate student Joshua Figueroa was recognized by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on Feb. 1, as the designated hitter was tabbed a Preseason Third Team All-American. 
•    Appearing in 47 of 48 games a year ago and making 45 starts, Figueroa hit a blistering .351 and led the team in RBIs (54) and doubles (14) while ranking third on the team in home runs (7). The Chicago native set a career-high with five RBIs on a pair of occasions last year, against Youngstown State on May 2 and again against Milwaukee on May 28.
•    A Second Team All-League honoree a year ago, Figueroa was also named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team last season. Figueroa, who split time between catching and being the designated hitter, had a career-high five hits in UIC's third game of the year at Florida International and recorded one hit in 33 contests. The De La Salle Institute prep standout had a 13-game hitting streak spanning almost the entire month of April (April 2-24).
•    Figueroa was the only Horizon League player named to any of the NCBWA's three preseason All-American teams.