2008 Woodie Awards
Seventh Heaven?
Baseball closes in on another League title
Andrew Smothers
Issue date: 5/19/08 Section: Sports
UIC Baseball entered the last day of Horizon League play with their destiny in hand. A sweep of Valparaiso would clinch a seventh-straight League title. A loss in either game would give them the two seed in the League tournament.
UIC Baseball wrapped up another successful Horizon League regular season this past weekend, needing a Saturday sweep of Valparaiso to claim a seventh-consecutive League title. The results of the doubleheader were unavailable as of press time Saturday, but the Flames destiny was of their own control against the Crusaders, with then-first place Wright State idle.
Due to the cancelation of rained-washed League games for both UIC and Wright State, the Flames had one extra contest left on the schedule. The Flames entered Saturday with a 15-6 record, to Wright State's 16-6 mark. After an 11-4 victory Friday night, Saturday's doubleheader was a must-win for the Flames.
UIC came into the twinbill victors of its last five ballgames, giving up 14 runs while scoring 37 in that stretch.
True freshman centerfielder Steve McGuiggan continues to lead the Flames in batting, a role he has not relinquished all season. The leadoff hitter tops the team stats in batting average, on base percentage, and hits.
Junior hurler Mike Kool and sophomore starter Derrick Miramontes have gobbled up the innings all season long for UIC, sporting a combined 10-6 record and 167 innings pitched heading into Saturday.
On Friday, another solid start from Kool and plenty of offensive production helped the UIC baseball team cinch the victory over Valparaiso.
Kool allowed just two unearned runs in eight innings to claim his fifth win of the year. That marked the fifth consecutive start that he had pitched into the eighth inning.
The UIC offense busted out 16 hits, led by a 3-for-4 day from Brett Schaefer and 3-for-5 outings from Kevin Coddington and Jake Carr.
Carr started the scoring with a solo home run in the first to ignite a three-run surge with two outs in the opening inning.
Already ahead 7-2 after seven and a half innings, the Flames put the game away with a four-run eighth.
The Horizon League championship tournament begins this week in Niles, Ohio. The tournament is to be held at Eastwood Field in Niles, the home of the minor league Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
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Due to the cancelation of rained-washed League games for both UIC and Wright State, the Flames had one extra contest left on the schedule. The Flames entered Saturday with a 15-6 record, to Wright State's 16-6 mark. After an 11-4 victory Friday night, Saturday's doubleheader was a must-win for the Flames.
UIC came into the twinbill victors of its last five ballgames, giving up 14 runs while scoring 37 in that stretch.
True freshman centerfielder Steve McGuiggan continues to lead the Flames in batting, a role he has not relinquished all season. The leadoff hitter tops the team stats in batting average, on base percentage, and hits.
Junior hurler Mike Kool and sophomore starter Derrick Miramontes have gobbled up the innings all season long for UIC, sporting a combined 10-6 record and 167 innings pitched heading into Saturday.
On Friday, another solid start from Kool and plenty of offensive production helped the UIC baseball team cinch the victory over Valparaiso.
Kool allowed just two unearned runs in eight innings to claim his fifth win of the year. That marked the fifth consecutive start that he had pitched into the eighth inning.
The UIC offense busted out 16 hits, led by a 3-for-4 day from Brett Schaefer and 3-for-5 outings from Kevin Coddington and Jake Carr.
Carr started the scoring with a solo home run in the first to ignite a three-run surge with two outs in the opening inning.
Already ahead 7-2 after seven and a half innings, the Flames put the game away with a four-run eighth.
The Horizon League championship tournament begins this week in Niles, Ohio. The tournament is to be held at Eastwood Field in Niles, the home of the minor league Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
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