Horizon League Baseball Championship Game Nine: UIC rallies past Milwaukee 7-5

May 23, 2008

Box Score

Championship Central

NILES, Ohio - The University of Illinois at Chicago (33-19) came back to defeat the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (23-35) 7-5 and send the Panthers to the loser's bracket of the Horizon League Baseball Championship presented by the U.S. Army. Milwaukee will take on Valparaiso University tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. with the winner moving on to face UIC in the championship final at 3:00 p.m.

UIC's come-from-behind victory was its ninth straight. In the Flames' two tournament wins, UIC has had to rally in the late innings to win. In Thursday night's game against Valparaiso, UIC rallied after being down 4-1 in the seventh.

The Flames fell behind 5-0 after five innings, but scored two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to tie the game. The Flames then took the lead in the eighth with a pair of runs.

UIC junior Adam Worthington was the winning pitcher after he came on in place of junior Derrick Miramontes in the eighth inning. Worthington, who was crowned as the League's Relief Pitcher of the Year, worked two innings and did not allow a run. Junior starter Derrick Miramontes allowed just two earned runs in seven innings of work in a no-decision.

UWM closer Adam Ferrell suffered the loss and dropped to 3-5 on the year. The Panther senior worked 2.0 innings allowed four hits and struck out a pair.

Junior Brett Schaefer provided the offensive spark for the Flames as he went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two home runs.

Schaefer (3-for-4, three RBI) led off the sixth with an opposite-field shot off of UWM starter Cuyler Franzke. Kevin Coddington followed by taking a walk, and two batters later Brandon Harwell (3-for-4) pulled a ball down the right field line for a double that allowed Coddington to score all the way from first base as the Flames closed the gap to three runs.

In the seventh, UIC's first two hitters reached base safely and would later advance into scoring position on sophomore Ty Rubio's sacrifice bunt. Junior Jake Carr came up next and hit a sacrifice fly to left field which allowed freshman Jason Ganek to score from third. Schaefer followed and hit his second home run of the game by sending Ferrell's pitch over the left field wall for a two-run shot that evened the game at five.

The bases were loaded with one out in the eighth for freshman Steve McGuiggan, who sent a deep fly ball to center that a hustling UWM's Doug Dekoning caught on a spectacular play.

It allowed Rafael Garcia to easily score the go-ahead run from third on the sacrifice, but Andy Leonard tagged up at second and sprinted home to beat the play at the plate to make the score 7-5.

In the ninth inning, Worthington allowed just one hit to put the Panthers away.

The 2008 Horizon League Baseball Championship is being held at Eastwood Field in Niles, Ohio. Single-day tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and youth, while all-tournament passes are $20 and $14, respectively. Students from all Horizon League institutions are free with a valid student identification card. Gates will open one hour prior to the first game each day.

For additional Horizon League baseball information, including the championship bracket, directions to Eastwood Field, GameTracker live statistics and game recaps, check out the official web site at www.horizonleague.org. For free, live video web casts of all games of the Horizon League Baseball Championship, log onto the Horizon League Network at www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv.