CHICAGO -- The UIC baseball team plays a non-conference series this weekend as the Flames and Valparaiso will meet for a split-site three-game series. The two teams will face off in Chicago on Friday for a doubleheader before heading to Valpo for a single game on Saturday.

FIRST PITCH
• This weekend will mark the final non-conference series that the Flames will play this season. The Flames opened the season with four consecutive non-conference weekends and are scheduled to play four more non-conference games as part of midweek action.
• Through six scheduled home games this year, the Flames have only been able to play three contests due to poor playing conditions.

FLAMES STUN NO. 16 BOILERMAKERES
• UIC came from behind in stunning fashion on March 29, erasing a 9-0 deficit after six innings to top 16th-ranked Purdue by a 10-9 score.
• The Flames scored three runs in the seventh, four in the eighth and added three more in the ninth to complete the comeback.
• UIC excelled under pressure, as nine of the 10 runs scored in the comeback came with two outs in the inning.
• The win marked UIC's first win over a ranked opponent since winning 2-of-3 at then No. 7 Vanderbilt Feb. 24-26, 2017.

SMALL BALL
• UIC is one of the best teams in the Horizon League in manufacturing runs, as the Flames rank atop the League in sacrifice bunts and second in sacrifice flies.
• The Flames have recorded 18 sac bunts this year, 10th-most in Division I baseball, and have driven home eight players via the sac fly.
• Breck Nowik has a team-leading five sacrifice bunts this year to rank 16th nationally.

ON A STREAK
• Bryan Rosario has been a consistent presence atop the Flames lineup, having occupied the lead-off position in 10-of-18 games this year. Rosario leads the team in batting average (.357), hits (25), doubles (6), RBI (13), slugging percentage (.557) and on-base percentage (.451).
• Rosario reached base safely in the first nine games of the year, which was the longest streak on the team through the first four weekends of action.
• Ryan Nagelbach and Rayth Petersen now share the team lead for the longest active on-base streak, having safely reached base in each of the last 13 games. Rosario also owns a six-game hitting streak.

CLOSING TIME
• UIC's offense has excelled at the end of the game as the Flames have scored over half of their runs from the seventh inning on.
• Of the 81 runs UIC has scored this season, 46 (56.8%) of their runs have come after the sixth inning.
• The flames have scored 16 runs in the seventh (the most in any inning this year), 13 in the eighth, 11 in the ninth and own a 6-0 scoring advantage in extra innings.