Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Chicago, Ill. - Jeff Mandsager belted a three-run home run and Kyle Young hit a solo homer, but Valpo lost to UIC 9-6. Marc Boggio had two hits for the Crusaders (3-9-1).

Valpo grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Eddie Hannan's double scored Eric Snyder, who led off the game with his league-leading 8th hit-by-pitch of the season. UIC (7-9) tied the game with a run in its half of the first.

The Flames took the lead in the third on Brad Ryan's sacrifice fly and broke the game open with four runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to extend their lead to 9-1.

Valpo added one run in the sixth on Brandon Sadler's sacrifice fly. In the seventh, Young hammered his second homer of the season over the left field fence to trim UIC's lead to 9-3. Mandsager hit his first homer of the campaign in the eighth following a walk to Sean Peickert and Boggio's single.

Peickert (1-2) started for Valpo, pitching 3 1/3 innings. UIC tallied 15 hits, while Valpo finished with eight.

Valpo hosts Saint Joseph's on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. CST.