DAYTON, Ohio – The UIC baseball team's season came to an end Wednesday afternoon as the Flames dropped a 3-2, extra innings, heartbreaker to Northern Kentucky in the opening round of the Horizon League Championship.
 
Nate Peterson shined on the mound, striking out nine while allowing two runs (one earned) and walking one in 7.2 innings to earn the no decision. Rayth Petersen notched a pair of hits while Adam Weed and Breck Nowik tallied the Flames' RBIs.
 
The Norse looked to strike first, putting runners on the corners with one out in the opening inning. Peterson forced a ground ball and the Flames turned their league-leading 43^rd double play of the year to work out of the jam.
 
UIC nearly pushed across the first run of the game in the bottom of the second following a Ryan Nagelbach walk and a Petersen single. The Flames put runners on the corners with two outs, but a groundout ended the threat.
 
Peterson scattered four hits across the first four innings while striking out four Norse batters. Meanwhile the Flames offense was held to just one hit in the early going.
 
Petersen gave UIC's offense some life in the fifth as he led off the inning with a triple to right. Sean Dee followed with a walk before Adam Weed broke the scoreless draw with a sac fly to left.
 
The Flames' lead wouldn't last long, as a solo shot by Northern Kentucky in the top of the sixth would bring the game back level at 1-all.
 
Peterson was back out on the mound for the seventh and struck out the side in order. With the trio of punchouts, Peterson reached 102 strikeouts on the year to become just the second player in program history to eclipse 100 strikeouts in a season. Larry Bergnach holds the UIC single-season record with 105 set in 1958.
 
The lefty was pulled after 7.2 innings of work, allowing just six hits and issuing one walk while striking out nine. Northern Kentucky took advantage of Peterson's sixth and final hit allowed. Following a UIC pitching change, the NKU runner moved to second on an error and came home to score on a single to center to put the Norse in front, 2-1, after seven and a half innings.
 
UIC's offense came through with a pair of hits in the eighth to quickly tie things up at 2-all. With one away, Bryan Rosario singled to center before moving to second on a wild pitch. Breck Nowik then stepped up with two outs and delivered an RBI double to the gap in left center to drive home Rosario.
 
The Flames were inches away from walking it off in the bottom of the ninth. Petersen was hit by a pitch to open the inning and moved to second on a sac bunt. Joshua Figueroa was intentionally walked, putting runners on first and second with one out. Bobby Grimes singled to left but Petersen was gunned out at the plate by a perfect throw home by the left fielder. A flyout would end the threat and send the game to extra innings.
 
Northern Kentucky pushed across the go-ahead run in 11^th and UIC was unable to rally for a second time Wednesday, going down in order to end the game.