Illinois-Chicago edges Illinois State, sweeps weekend MVC baseball series

NORMAL — The Illinois-Chicago baseball team pounded Illinois State with power and finessed the Redbirds with fundamentals all weekend at Duffy Bass Field.

And while ISU was considerably more competitive Sunday in a 3-2 Missouri Valley Conference loss, the Redbirds suffered a weekend sweep while scoring just four runs in three games.

“I think they started a guy with an 8 ERA and brought in a guy with a 9 and we got five hits,” lamented ISU coach Steve Holm. “On a Sunday, you anticipate being able to score more than that. But obviously we were not able to string those hits together.”

While slipping to 18-29 overall, ISU ended its home schedule at a disappointing 6-13.

The Redbirds did not lead all weekend and fell behind 2-0 in the second inning on Sunday on a two-run home run from Ryan Nagelbach.

ISU pulled within 2-1 in the fourth when Daniel Pacella doubled, took third on a ground out and scored on Luke Lawrence’s sacrifice fly.

Rayth Petersen’s sacrifice fly in the fifth drove in Bobby Grimes with the Flames’ third run.

JT Sokolove’s fifth-inning bloop down the right-field line turned into a triple. Luke Cheng’s sacrifice fly brought home Sokolove.

ISU managed just one hit over the final four innings as UIC won its seventh straight game and improved to 26-21 and 12-12 in the MVC.

“You have to give them some credit,” said Holm. “They are playing extremely well right now.”

Redbirds starter Derek Salata allowed three earned runs, walked three and struck out three over seven innings. Elijah Dale fanned three over two scoreless innings of relief.

“I thought Salata was fantastic, and Eli Dale did a really good job of holding it and giving us a chance to win,” Holm said.

Jeff Zack lowered an 8.40 ERA to 7.50 by allowing two earned runs in six innings as the UIC starter. Reece Lawler worked the final two frames for his fifth save.

UIC blasted seven homers over three games while ISU had none.

Nagelbach terrorized the Redbirds with four long balls and 11 RBIs on the weekend.

“You saw the way the field played the same way the whole weekend. The wind was blowing in, and you had to sneak it in at the scoreboard down the line,” Holm said. “When you get into a unique situation when the wind is only carrying out to a small part of the ballpark, sometimes it’s a race to see who hits more balls down the line. They certainly got that this weekend.”

UIC pitchers issued only four walks and its defense did not commit an error in three games.

“I thought our pitchers did an exceptional job all weekend of just throwing strikes,” Flames coach Sean McDermott said. “We always play pretty good defense. That’s a staple of ours, and we showed that this weekend.

“We played pretty solid baseball all weekend. I’m proud of the way our guys came out and handled business. We never really blinked. Even when we made mistakes today, we just kept playing. It shows our confidence of our guys.”

ISU is part of a four-way battle for the final two spots in the eight-team MVC Tournament with one weekend to play.

Valparaiso, which hosts the Redbirds on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to conclude the regular season, is seventh in the Valley at 9-15.

Belmont is eighth at 8-16 with ISU ninth at 7-17 and Bradley in last at 6-18.

The Flames led 3-0 after two innings and 9-0 after four in an 11-2 win Saturday.

Nagelbach blasted two of UIC’s four home runs and drove in four.

Pacella and Greg Nichols drove in the ISU runs.

Redbird starter Jayson Hibbard surrendered seven earned runs in three-plus innings.

In Friday’s seven-inning 10-0 UIC triumph, the Flames scored five in the first with four coming on a Nagelbach grand slam to right field.

UIC also received a two-run blast from Charlie Szykowny in the third.

ISU starter Cameron Mabee (2-5) was lifted after the first inning. Reliever Thomas Harper allowed three earned runs in four innings.

Flames starter Brandon Bak (3-4) only struck out one, issued one walk and gave up four hits in the complete-game victory.