YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The UIC baseball team ended the regular season on a high note Saturday, as the offense carried the Flames to an 18-6 victory over Youngstown State.
 
The 18 runs scored are the second-most scored by UIC in a single game this year. UIC's offense was consistent all day Saturday, scoring at least one run in seven of the nine innings of action. The Flames hit six home runs on the day, with Breck Nowik and Ryan Nagelbach each hitting a pair, including a grand slam by Nagelbach.
 
Back-to-back home runs by Nowik and Rayth Petersen in the first inning gave UIC a 3-0 lead. Cole Conn hit a two-run shot to right in the top of the second to extend the advantage to 5-0. The Flames would then add on two more in the third to make it a seven-run advantage. Bobby Grimes hit a sace fly to right before Bryan Rosario added an RBI single down the first base line.
 
Youngstown State would get on the board in the fourth with a single run before UIC added four in the fifth to make it 11-1. Grimes would score on an error, Conn drove Nagelbach home with a single before scoring on Nowik's two-run blast, his second of the afternoon.
 
The Penguins added a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 11-2 before UIC added a pair in the sixth inning on a two-run home run by Nagelbach to make it 13-2 in favor of the visitors.
 
Youngstown State pushed across three runs in the sixth to make it 13-5 but the long ball would once again help the Flames extend the lead. Nagelbach cleared the bases with a grand slam, his second home run of the day, to make it 17-5. Joshua Figueroa added an RBI groundout in the eighth to put the Flames up 18-5. With the game in hand, the Penguins would tack on a final run in the bottom of the eighth to close the books on the 18-6 UIC victory.
 
The Flames secured the No. 3 seed in next week's Horizon League Championship, hosted by Wright State, and will begin play on Wednesday, May 25, against the No. 6 seed Northern Kentucky in an elimination game. First pitch is slated for approximately 3 p.m. (CT) in Dayton.