Flames use early homers, key pitching to defeat Cleveland State

May 25, 2007

Box Score

UIC 8, Cleveland State 5
Chicago, Ill. - Micky Pingree and Larry Gempp Jr. hit back-to-back homers in a five-run first inning and top-seeded UIC held on for a 8-5 victory over fourth seed Cleveland State in the winner's bracket of the 2007 U.S. Army Horizon League Baseball Championship at Les Miller Field.

The Flames (32-19), who outscored CSU 28-8 in sweeping a three-game series here during the regular season (April 27-28), hit three home runs in the first inning off Viking starter Brian Long. Chad Schroeder and Nick Rainwater opened the frame with consecutive singles before Pingree hit a long, three-run home run off the Flames Athletic Center facing behind the left-center field fence. Gempp followed four pitches later with his sixth homer of the spring to right field, and David Cales belted his fifth homer to left field.

The Vikings (14-43) touched Peterson for a run in the top of the first on Rich Ranells' two-out double and an RBI single by Josh Hungerman, and collected five hits in the first two frames but could not deliver the big hit. UIC took advantage of that window to claim a 7-1 advantage in the second inning when Gempp's RBI double capped a two-run flurry aided by one of CSU's four errors.

The Vikings chipped away at the lead with a single run in the third when Ryan Baechel singled and scored on John Westra's RBI single. Two more Vikings crossed the plate in the sixth as a Flames error and Matt Madrid's run-scoring hit trimmed the deficit to 7-4, but UIC plated an additional run in the eighth on consecutive singles by Schroeder and Rainwater.

That eighth tally proved to be important as Cleveland State rallied in the ninth. Josh Geric led off the frame with a solo homer and Nate Radtke drew a walk to finish Zach Peterson's evening. UIC coach Mike Dee called on Cales---the League's Relief Pitcher of the Year---to close the game, but Madrid and Vasili Pahoulis singled around a Bobby Cash strike-out to load the bases before Cales fanned Ranells and Hungerman to notch his 12th save of the season.

Peterson, who received his League's Pitcher of the Year award prior to the game, allowed five runs (four earned) on 11 hits in eight innings. He won his seventh consecutive decision---all against League foes---since April 10, climbing to 7-3 overall. Long fell to 0-6 on the year despite a complete-game effort as he allowed eight runs on 13 hits.

Gempp finished a single short of the cycle in four at-bats, scoring one run and driving in two. Rainwater also had three of the Flames' 13 hits and scored twice while Schroeder crossed the plate three times. Madrid was three-for-four for CSU with Baechel and Westra each adding a pair of hits.

UIC moves into the winner's-bracket final, where the Flames will meet second-seeded Wright State in Friday's final game. Two elimination contests precede that 7 p.m. (Central time) contest, with Cleveland State facing sixth seed Youngstown State at 11 a.m., and the winner of that game squaring off against third-seeded UW-Milwaukee at 3 p.m.