ROCHESTER, Mich. – With second place in the Horizon League on the line, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies will welcome the UIC Flames in for a Sunday, May 15 doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
Oakland will enter the day at 26-24 (15-10), while the Flames are 21-21 (13-8).
UIC currently occupies the No. 2 spot in the league standings, with their .619 conference win percentage narrowly edging out the Golden Grizzlies' .600. If Oakland can win both games Sunday, they will jump the Flames and move into second place themselves.
Additionally, a Sunday sweep would give Oakland 28 wins this season, tying the 2000 team for the most in a campaign since the program began competing at the NCAA Division I level in 1998.
All-time record against the Flames
First meeting on April 11, 2014, the year Oakland joined the Horizon League, the Golden Grizzlies and Flames have played 38 times, with UIC owning a 27-11 edge.
The Flames took two of three when these two clubs met earlier this season in Chicago on April 9 and 10.
2022 marks the last season these two will be conference foes, as UIC will be joining the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) for the 2022-23 academic year.
Probable starting pitchers
Game 1
Oakland
Junior left-hander
Travis Densmore: 12 games (8 starts), 4-3, 5.51 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, .308 OBA, 50.2 IP, 13 BB, 45 SO
UIC
Graduate student right-hander Cristian Lopez: 14 games (7 starts), 5-4, 5.13 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, .284 OBA, 47.1 IP, 18 BB, 62 SO
Game 2
Oakland
Redshirt senior left-hander
Christian Stelling: 17 games (4 starts), 0-1, 6.75 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, .258 OBA, 24 IP, 19 BB, 32 SO
UIC
TBD
About the Flames
With Mike Dee retiring after 23 seasons following 2021, UIC is led by a first-year head coach in Sean McDermott.
While he is in his first season as the head coach, McDermott is intimately familiar with the Flames program, as he was with Dee for the duration of his 23-year run, serving as his associate head coach, infield coach, and recruiting coordinator.
One of two Flames to start all 42 games, switch-hitting redshirt senior left fielder Bryan Rosario paces the squad with a .335 batting average (53-for-158) and is their top base-stealer with 10 in 15 attempts.
Redshirt freshman first baseman Breck Nowik and sophomore third baseman Rayth Petersen, who rocks the old-school no-batting gloves look, are UIC's two other players hitting above .300, checking in at .322 and .303, respectively.
Senior right-hander Tanner Shears is the Flames' closer, having registered seven saves, with redshirt junior Jeff Zack, redshirt freshman Matt Zahora, and graduate student Joey Morris, all fellow righties, also being top options for McDermott out of the bullpen, having made a combined 36 relief appearances.
