Baseball Falls to UIC in Semifinals

Friday, May 25

Chicago, IL

8:00 PM

Wright State University

35-21

UIC

33-19

Wright State

UIC

5/25/2007 12:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: WSU Athletic Media Relations

The Wright State baseball team dropped their first Horizon League Tournament game since 2005, falling to top-seeded UIC 13-3 on Friday evening. The Raiders fell behind early to the Flames and couldn't recover in the loss.

The Flames jumped out to an early lead in the first inning on WSU starter Erich Schanz. UIC got things started with a leadoff single and followed that with a two-run home run over the left field fence from Nick Rainwater. Larry Gempp Jr. walked and moved to third on a two-out single from David Cales, scoring on a single from Tyler Moore.

The top-seeded Flames added to their lead in the second inning, scoring three runs with two outs. A two-run blast from David Carr and a solo homer from Cales helped UIC build an early 7-0 lead.

The Raiders threatened on UIC starter Ryan Zink in the fourth inning, but couldn't push a run across the plate. Brian Shoup put runners on the corners with two outs in the inning. Zink then recorded a strikeout to get out of the inning and keep the Raiders out of the scoring column.

Schanz threw 5.2 innings and allowed 11 runs on 16 hits in the start. The senior handed the ball to Ross Vagedes with two outs in the sixth inning, striking out three batters in the contest. Schanz falls to 6-5 overall on the season in 12 starts this season.

The Flames tallied single runs in the seventh and eighth off of Vagedes and freshman Jordan Wolfe to extend their lead to 13-0.

The Raiders got on the board in the ninth inning with a trio of runs. Nick Mahon led the inning off with a walk, Nick Allsop was hit by a pitch and a walk to John Kopilchack loaded the bases with one out. Dan Biedenharn and Jeremy Hamilton all recorded RBI's in the inning to cut the final margin to 13-3.

Each team stranded ten runners in the game and WSU walked five times, compared to only two for UIC.

In the contest, Biedenharn extended his hitting streak to 23-games, tying Parker for the longest on the team this season, and Hamilton drove in his 60th RBI of the season. Shoup collected two hits in the contest and Parker reached base three times.

The Raiders are now 35-21 on the season and will play Milwaukee in the loser's bracket at Noon Dayton time tomorrow. The Green and Gold will be playing for the right to compete in their second straight championship game, but will need three consecutive wins to claim the title.