Saturday, April 02, 2005

Valparaiso, Ind. - UIC scored two runs in four different innings and went on to defeat Valpo 9-4 at Emory G. Bauer Field. Colin Reynolds had two RBIs and Kevin Perri added two hits and an RBI for the Crusaders (7-10).

On an extremely windy day, the Flames managed a 16-hit attack, led by Bart Babineaux who went 4-for-4 with an RBI. Shane Crowder, who had three RBIs, added two hits. Ben Trotter contributed two RBIs for UIC (12-9-1).

The Flames grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning on RBI singles by Crowder and Bryan Nolte. UIC increased its lead to 4-0 in the third on an RBI groundout by Ted Rosinski and Babineaux's RBI single.

Valpo trimmed its deficit to 4-1 in the fourth. Perri led off with a single and stole second. With two outs, Reynolds dropped a single into center field, scoring Perri.

A two-run fifth, bolstered by four hits, extended UIC's advantage to 6-1. Crowder's two-out RBI double and Trotter's RBI single accounted for the runs.

The Crusaders cut the Flames' lead in half (6-3) in the sixth. Perri led off the frame with a walk and Arensdorff followed with a single. After Kevin Kutansky advanced the runners with a groundout to shortstop, Reynolds plated Perri with an RBI groundout to second base and Augustine responded with an RBI double over the left fielder's head, scoring Arensdorff.

In the seventh, Crowder delivered a sacrifice fly and Trotter's sacrifice bunt produced another tally to give UIC an 8-4 lead. Mark Hallberg added a sacrifice fly in the eighth for the final margin.

Eric Brauer (3-2) suffered the loss, allowing six runs over 5 innings. The senior fanned one and issued one walk. Zach Peterson (3-1) hurled 6 2/3 innings for UIC, yielding all four runs on seven hits. The righthander struck out five and walked one.

Valpo travels to Chicago to oppose UIC on Sunday beginning at 1:05 p.m. in the final game of the series.