UIC scored seven runs over the first three innings on its way to a 18-6 victory over the Youngstown State baseball team in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday at Eastwood Field. YSU honored its senior class with a special Senior Day ceremony before first pitch.
Youngstown State finishes the regular season at 19-34 overall and 12-16 in Horizon League play while UIC is 22-24 overall and 14-11 in league action.
UIC salvaged the series finale after YSU won the first two games of the series on Thursday and Friday.
Braeden O'Shaughnessy went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs while
Dylan Swarmer and
Turner Grau had two hits apiece. The Penguins had 10 different players record a hit in the contest. UIC outhit YSU 15-14 for the ballgame.
YSU starter
Lane Rhodes suffered the loss after allowing five runs on six hits with three strikeouts over two innings of work. Rhodes was one of eight different pitchers to appear in the contest for the Penguins.
The Flames struck first with three runs on a pair of two-out home runs in the top of the first inning. After Ryan Nagelbach hit a one-out single, Breck Nowik hit a two-out, two-run home run to right field. Rayth Petersen followed with a solo homer to center to give UIC a 3-0 lead.
The Flames hit another two-out home run in the top of the second to increase their lead to 5-0. Bryan Rosario hit a one-out single before Cole Conn sent a two-out, two-run blast to right field.
UIC pushed its lead to 7-0 by scoring a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third inning. Petersen drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Grimes. Adam Weed, who reached on an error, scored on an RBI infield single by Rosario.
The Penguins got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when
Dominick Bucko hit a one-out double and
Steven D'Eusanio followed with an RBI single.
The Flames responded by scoring four runs on two hits and an error in the top of the fifth to increase their advantage to 11-1. Bobby Grimes drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on an error, Cole Conn delivered an RBI single and Nowick followed with his second two-run home run of the contest.
YSU scored its second run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning when
Trey Law drew a leadoff walk and scored on a one-out RBI single from O'Shaughnessy.
UIC answered again in the top of the sixth by scoring two runs to push its lead to 13-2. After Rosario drew a leadoff walk, Nagelbach hit a two-run home run to right center.
The Penguins cut the Flames' lead to 13-5 with three runs on four hits in the home half of the sixth inning. Swarmer hit a two-out double and Law drove him home with an RBI single. Grau brought Law home with an RBI single and O'Shaughnessy followed with an RBI double off the left field wall.
The Flames pushed their lead to 17-5 in the top of the seventh inning when Nagelbach hit a two-out grand slam to right field. UIC tacked on a run in the top of the eighth to account for its 18 runs.
YSU added its final run in the bottom of the eighth as
Ian Francis hit a leadoff double and scored on a two-out RBI single by O'Shaughnessy.
UIC starter Chris Torres was awarded the victory after allowing one run on six hits over 3.2 innings.
Nagelbach went 3-for-7 with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored while Nowick was 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs. The Flames hit a total of six home runs and drew 10 walks on the day.
Youngstown State will now travel to Dayton, Ohio, for the 2022 Horizon League Baseball Championship, which begins on Wednesday at Wright State's Nischwitz Stadium. The Penguins will be the No. 5 seed and will face fourth-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday in an elimination game at noon. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and YSNLive.com.
