UIC wins opening game at NCAA baseball regional
June 2, 2007
UIC 4, Long Beach State 1Box Score / Post-Game Quotes
Long Beach, Calif. - Ryan Zink pitched eight strong innings and UIC used some timely, two-out hitting to defeat Long Beach State 4-1 in the opening round of the 2006 NCAA Baseball Championship regional at Blair Field.
Zink allowed only one hit and one unearned run while striking out five batters. He retired the last 13 batters he faced as the Flames improved to 35-19. Long Beach State, the regional's host and top seed, dropped to 37-19.
Zink (7-3) handcuffed the Dirtbag hitters all night, but trailed 1-0 in the fourth inning as he hit Danny Espinosa with a pitch and then gave up a single to Robert Perry to move Espinosa to third, where he scored on an error.
The Flames came right back in the top of the fifth, plating a pair of runs with two outs. Ty Rubio started the rally when he was hit by a Manny McElroy (5-3) pitch with one out and advanced to second on Tyler Moore's single. After an Erik Whinery grtound out pushed both runners up a base, Schroeder delievered a two-run single to put UIC in front, 2-1.
The Flames extended the margin in the eighth with some more two-out heroics. McElroy retired the first two hitters in the inning before Schroeder's single and a walk to Nick Rainwater ended the Dirtbag starter's evening. Micky Pingree then greeted reliever David Roberts with a two-run double to center field to close the scoring.
UIC, which hit a Horizon League Championship-record ten home runs and scored 35 runs in three games to sweep its way to the League crown, played small ball with only one extra-base hit---Pingree's double---to back dominating pitching. David Cales struck out the side in the ninth inning to record his 13th save of the season.
The victory was UIC's first-ever in the national tournament, and the first by a Horizon League entry since UW-Milwaukee defeated Rice 8-4 in the first day of the 1999 competition.
UIC moves on in the winner's bracket of the double-elimination tournament to meet second-seeded UCLA (31-26), a 7-3 victor over third seed Pepperdine (35-21). The Flames and Bruins take the field at 10 p.m. Eastern time, after Pepperdine and LBSU square off in an elmiination contest at 6 p.m.
