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Mike Kool did not surrender an earned run in eight innings to earn the victory in UIC's 11-4 victory over Valparaiso.
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Baseball Roundup - May 16
UIC keeps alive hopes for regular-season title with 11-4 victory over Valparaiso, while Milwaukee moves into fifth place with 9-8 win over Youngstown State, Cleveland State slips past Butler 3-1 and Wright State dominates NJIT 9-3 in non-League action
May 16, 2008
UIC 11, Valparaiso 4
CHICAGO - Another solid start from Mike Kool and plenty of offensive production helped the UIC baseball team cinch an 11-4 victory over visiting Valparaiso at Les Miller Field on Friday night.
The Flames (29-19, 15-6 Horizon League) now need two wins against Valparaiso (18-31, 8-11) on Saturday to clinch their seventh straight Horizon League regular season title and the top seed in next week's Horizon League Baseball Championship presented by U.S. Army.
Kool allowed just two unearned runs in eight innings to claim his fifth win of the year. He has now gone into the eighth in five consecutive starts.
The UIC offense busted out 16 hits, led by a 3-for-4 day from Brett Schaefer and 3-for-5 outings from Kevin Coddington and Jake Carr.
Carr started the scoring with a solo home run in the first to ignite a three-run surge with two outs in the opening inning.
Already ahead 7-2 after seven and a half innings, the Flames put the game away with a four-run eighth.
Box Score
Cleveland State 3, Butler 1
INDIANAPOLIS - Starting pitcher Jeff Sinkiewicz and reliever Jared Wagoner combined to hold visiting Cleveland State to just three runs on six hits, but the Vikings received a strong complete-game effort from southpaw Josh Hungerman as CSU held off the Bulldogs, 3-1, at Bulldog Park on Friday (May 16) afternoon.
Butler gave Sinkiewicz an early 1-0 lead in the first. Nate Hart led off the game with a walk before taking second on a sac bunt by Colin Ziegel. Kyle Schultz then delivered a clutch two-out single through the left side to bring Hart around to score.
Cleveland State would get some two-out runs of their own to take the lead in the second, as Josh Geric and Tom Carter roped back-to-back RBI singles to give the Vikings a one run lead.
Geric would return to the plate with a runner on second and two down in the fourth and deliver another RBI hit to extend the Viking advantage to 3-1.
The offense would be all CSU would need, as Hungerman held the Butler bats to just four hits while striking out eight.
Sinkiewicz worked a solid seven innings, striking out one and walking one with only one of his six hits allowed going for extra bases. He finished his outing strong, setting down the final 10 batters he faced in the game.
Box Score
Milwaukee 9, Youngstown State
MILWAUKEE - Senior John Sarcia drove in the winning run in the eighth inning and junior Shawn Wozniak hit two home runs and drove in six to back the pitching of senior Ben McClarey Friday as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team closed out the regular season with a 9-8 win over Youngstown State. The Panthers (21-34, 11-15 Horizon) pounded out 17 hits off six pitchers in the game for the Penguins (23-31, 13-12 Horizon) and tied a school record by stealing six bases on the day.
They will now have to await their place in the league standings from play over the weekend. Milwaukee can still finish anywhere from fourth to sixth depending on the outcomes of the Valparaiso-UIC and Cleveland State-Butler series played today and tomorrow.
Wozniak finished 3-for-4 with a career-high tally in RBI's while also scoring twice. Sarcia doubled in senior Troy Vesling - who laced a pinch-hit double - with the winning run after two were out in the eighth to give him six hits in 10 at bats in the series.
UWM did strand 13 more runners today, upping the team total in the past two games to 29.
The two-three-four hitters in the line-up - seniors Jesse Hart and Nick Wichser and Wozniak - all had three hits and scored two runs each. Wichser's trio of safeties pushes his total to 199 in his career.
McClarey (2-1) came on in relief of junior Tim Hoy. He threw the final 5.0 innings, giving up two earned runs in his outing and recording one strikeout. He allowed only a walk in the eighth over the final two innings to close it out.
Trailing 5-3 in the fifth, UWM struck for the tying runs on Wozniak's two-run shot to left field. He was at it again in the sixth, sending a three-run shot to almost the identical spot of the outfield fence to make it 8-5.
The Penguins wasted no time in making it a new game, striking for three runs in the top of the seventh. They got one on an Eric Marzec double, another on a ground out and the third on a suicide squeeze attempt.
Wichser (two steals), freshman Doug Dekoning (two steals), Hart and junior Ben Long combined for the six steals, equaling the school record set twice during the 2001 campaign. Anthony Porter (three hits, three RBI) and Marzec (2-for-4) were the only YSU players with more than one hit.
Box Score
Wright State 9, NJIT 3
DAYTON - Justin Parker drove in three RBI's and Alex Kaminsky spun six innings of one-run baseball to help the Wright State baseball team to a 9-3 non-conference victory over NJIT at Nischwitz Stadium on Friday evening.
The Highlanders took an early 1-0 lead on WSU starting pitcher Alex Kaminsky as Tyler Hamilton and Miguel Lugo doubled to score the first run of the game.
The Raiders knotted the game at 1-1 when Justin Parker walked with one out and came around to score on a Gerald Ogrinc single later in the inning.
The Green and Gold added four runs with two outs in the fifth inning off of NJIT starting pitcher Cory Kuzmik. Jeremy Hamilton doubled to start the inning, followed by RBI hits from Parker, Jeff Mercer, Ross Vagedes and Ogrinc.
Kris Steffen smacked his second career home run with one out in the sixth inning to extend the WSU lead to 6-1.
Kaminsky won his seventh straight start with six innings of one run baseball. He fanned five batters - walking only one - and allowed only four hits. The sophomore improved his record to 8-1 overall on the season and owns a 3.90 earned run average in 57.2 innings of work.
The Raiders and Highlanders traded runs in the seventh inning and NJIT scored a run in the eighth to make it a 7-3 contest.
Parker struck again in the eighth inning with the 53rd double of his career. Steffen and pinch hitter Kory Twede walked to start the inning, and after a strikeout, Parker ripped a double down the left field line to collect a pair of RBI's, accounting for the 9-3 margin of victory.
Scott Ruthven came on to throw a perfect ninth inning and help WSU improve to 28-20 overall on the season.
In the contest, Parker collected three RBI's and a pair of hits to raise his batting average to .403 on the season. Mercer doubled for the twentieth time in 2008, while Steffen was one-for-one with a pair of runs scored.
Box score to be posted later. Check back soon.
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