CHICAGO – The UIC baseball team is set to open the 2023 regular season this week, as it travels out to Moraga, California to take on St. Mary's in a four-game series, beginning with a double-header Friday at Louis Guisto Field.
 
"There's a lot of excitement for our team right now," commented second-year head coach Sean McDermott. "I'm looking forward to see if we can go out there, relax, and just play UIC baseball. If we are able to do that, I think we'll be very pleased with the outcomes that come along with that."


 
NEW FACES

• The UIC roster will look quite different for the 2023 season than it did a year ago, with 19 new players on the roster, and just 12 returning (six position players, six pitchers).
• The class of 19 was one of the largest in program history, helping the Flames prepare for their inaugural season in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• The 19-member signing class is comprised of nine recent high school grads along with 10 college transfers.
• Twelve of the 19 newcomers are local talent, having grown up in Illinois. The Flames went north to Wisconsin for four players and west to Iowa for one additional new Flame. The final two signees hail from California, a location UIC has heavily recruited in the past.

 
RETURNING TALENT

• The Flames bring back reigning Freshman All-American Breck Nowik, who was a force on offense in 2022, batting .335 to go along with nine home runs.
• Rayth Petersen also returns for his junior season, following a sophomore campaign that saw the Barrington, Ill. native rank second on the roster with an impressive .330 batting average.
• Much of what the Flames looked to replace in the off-season was in relation to pitching, with Tyler Ingram being the lone remaining weekend starter from a season ago. Ingram posted a 4-4 record as the main Friday starter, striking out 58 batters in 71.1 innings pitched in his 13 starts.

 
SCOUTING ST. MARY'S

• The Gaels will also open the 2023 season Friday, following a 2022 campaign where they went 25-30 overall, and 9-18 in the West Coast Conference. St. Mary's did not qualify for the WCC Tournament in 2022, but retain a talented, young core group of players heading into 2023.
• The Gaels were picked to finish eighth in the 2023 WCC Baseball Preseason Poll, and did not have any representatives on the Preseason All-Conference Teams.

 
All four games in this weekend's series can be seen live on the WCC Network, an online streaming platform. Live stats are also available for each contest using the links on the baseball schedule page. Follow @UIC_Baseball on Twitter for updates throughout the series.