CHICAGO – Tyler Ingram dazzled in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader for the UIC baseball team, helping the Flames earn a split against Oakland in Horizon League action. After battling to a 6-5 defeat in Game 1 of the twinbill, UIC responded with a 5-2 victory in the nightcap.
 
Game 1 Recap
UIC jumped on the board early as Rayth Petersen drove home Ryan Lin-Peistrup from second in the bottom of the first to give the Flames an early 1-0 lead. Two pitches later, Cole Conn sent a shot out to right to increase the advantage to 3-0 after an inning of play.
 
A double steal by the Golden Grizzlies in the third would get the visitors on the board. Oakland would tack on a pair in the top of the sixth to draw even at 3-all.
 
The 3-all deadlock wouldn't last long, however, as Joshua Figueroa kept a blast just inside the third base foul pole to put UIC back in front by a 4-3 margin after six innings of action.
 
Oakland took its first lead of the day in the seventh as an RBI single drove home a pair to make it a 5-4 lead for Oakland. Conn came through for UIC in the bottom of the eighth as his single to left allowed Breck Nowik to come home and even things up at 5-all.
 
In a back-and-forth battle, Oakland score what would be the game-winning run in the top of the ninth to take a 6-5 lead. The Flames battled to their final out, loading the bases with two outs, but a fielder's choice would end the comeback attempt.
 
Nate Peterson ended his day with a no-decision, pitching 5.2 thirds while allowing three earned runs. The lefty dazzled early, as the first six outs of the day were all via the strikeout. Peterson would end his day with eight punchouts on the day over a career-high 121 pitches.
 
Game 2 Recap
Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first after a double came around to score on an eventual throwing error. Ingram limited the damage to just one earned run, getting a strikeout and flyout to end the inning.
 
The Flames would trail by the one run until exploding for three runs in the third and two more in the fourth.
 
Bobby Grimes singled with one out and moved to third on Ryan Lin-Peistrups double. A Bryan Rosario single turned into three bases after a misplay in the outfield, with Grimes and Lin-Peistrup both coming home to score on the play in the third.
 
A Ryan Nagelbach walk and Garrett McCarthy single opened the fourth inning for UIC, and the pair would move up on the sac bunt by Grimes. A wild pitch brough Nagelbach home and moved McCarthy to third, and the outfielder would eventually score on a sac fly by Lin-Peistrup.
 
The 5-1 advantage held all the way until the seventh when Oakland scored its second unearned run of the day to make it a 5-2 ballgame.
 
Ingram dazzled in his outing, scattering five hits and three walks around his season-high eight innings of work. The righty fell one punchout shy of matching his season high in strikeouts, ending the day with six while allowing just the pair of unearned runs.
 
Tanner Shears came on in the ninth and closed the door, working around a one-out single to secure his second save of the season.
 
UIC will look to secure the series win on Sunday for Game 3 between the Flames and Golden Grizzlies, with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
News and Notes

• Petersen pushed his on-base streak to a team-leading 19 consecutive games while Rosario extended his hitting streak to 12 games (14 game on-base streak).
• Conn hit his third home run of the season to match the team lead while Figueroa connected on his first long ball of the year.
• UIC starting pitching combined for 14 of the 17 Flames strikeouts Saturday afternoon.