March 29, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. - Twenty-three games into its 2010 season, the Northwestern baseball team finally plays a game within the state of Illinois Tuesday as it makes the short trip south to take on UIC. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. from Les Miller Field.
Gametracker can be accessed via NUsports.com.
The Wildcats (6-17) wrapped up their nine-game spring break trip to Florida on Sunday as it concluded its four-game series at Stetson. The Hatters prevented NU from earning a series split by defeating the Wildcats 11-5. Northwestern won Saturday's contest by a score of 9-7. Tuesday's matchup serves as a precursor to this weekend's home-opening series against defending Big Ten champion Ohio State which gets underway Friday.
Sophomore Paul Snieder paces Northwestern with a .375 batting average to go along with six doubles and 11 RBI. Junior Chris Lashmet is the Wildcats' leading run producer, having driven in 18 runs so far this season.
NU leads the all-time series with UIC 62-19-1. The Wildcats won two of three games played at UIC March 13 and 14 of last season.
The Flames (5-14) opened up Horizon League play last weekend by taking two of three games from visiting Milwaukee. Junior Steve McGuiggan was named the Horizon League Player of the Week after batting .455 in UIC's five contests last week. Junior Matt Serna leads the Flames with a .371 season average, while senior Chris Rutta is batting .347 with team highs of nine doubles, five home runs and 24 RBI.
Pitching has been the Flames' Achilles' heel this season as the staff sports a 10.21 ERA while opposing batters are hitting .358 against UIC.