May 13, 2008

UIC Baseball Game Notes in PDF Format

Chicago, Ill.- The UIC baseball team enters the final leg of the 2008 regular season campaign with four games on the docket this week.

The Flames (27-19, 14-6 Horizon League) begin their final week of play before next week's 2008 Horizon League Baseball Championship presented by U.S. Army with a non-conference road tilt at Purdue. First pitch between UIC and the host Boilermakers (27-22, 18-9 Big Ten) is slated for 4 p.m. Eastern/3 p.m. Central at Lambert Field in West Lafayette, Ind.

That will be followed by a critical three-game weekend series against visiting Valparaiso at Les Miller Field. The Flames begin their set against the Crusaders (17-30, 8-10 Horizon League) on Friday night at 6:05 p.m. Central.

The regular season concludes on Saturday with a doubleheader between UIC and Valparaiso beginning at 1:05 p.m. Central to cap the Flames' home slate.

In order to clinch its seventh consecutive Horizon League regular season title and the top seed in next week's league tourney, UIC must win all three of its games against Valparaiso over the weekend. Just one loss will give the title and No. 1 seed to Wright State, who finished its league schedule this past weekend with a 16-6 mark.

UIC has won five of its last seven games, including a much-needed twinbill sweep over Cleveland State on Mother's Day evening.

Fueling the Flames' offensive exploits of late is veteran Jake Carr. In the last 20 games the junior outfielder/first baseman has hit .365 (27-for-74) with an average of an RBI per game. When looking at the last 10 contests, Carr is hitting .405 (17-for-42) with eight doubles and at least one hit in each of those games for a season-high hitting streak.

Closer Adam Worthington has been equally impressive of late. The junior right-handed reliever has a consecutive scoreless inning stretch of 14.1 frames. Opponents are batting just .163 against him in that span.

Rookie center fielder Steve McGuiggan continues to pace the Flames in average at an impressive clip of .371 (69-for-186), while fellow true freshman Rafael Garcia has come on in his last 23 games with a .324 average (24-for-74) that is nearly 100 points higher than his average in the first 23 games of the year (.234).

Junior Brett Schaefer remains the Flames' best at run production, thanks to team-best outputs of 42 RBI and 39 runs scored.

For more information on the UIC baseball team and the Flames' final week of regular season play, click on the updated game notes above.