Vikings Fall to UIC, 16-6, in League Tournament
    CSU Faces Elimination Game at 3:00 p.m. on Friday
    Kyle Shaffer

    Kyle Shaffer

    May 22, 2009

    Final Stats

    Contact: Greg Murphy

    LORAIN, Ohio - Kyle Shaffer drove in three runs, including a two-run homer, but Cleveland State pitchers walked 13 batters and hit two more as the Vikings were defeated by UIC, 16-6, in the Horizon League Championship second round on Thursday night at The Pipe Yard.

    The loss drops CSU to 21-30 overall and sends the Vikings into a 3:00 p.m. elimination game on Friday, May 22. CSU will face the winner of second-seeded Milwaukee and fourth-seeded Valparaiso who will play at 11:00 a.m.

    UIC improved to 27-21 and will face third-seeded Wright State at 7:00 p.m. with the winner earning a berth in the championship game on Saturday.

    "I am disappointed with the way we performed today, especially because this was such an important game for our program," head coach Kevin Kocks said. "We couldn't find the strike zone and gave them 15 free base runners. You can't do that against a team like UIC and they made us pay."

    CSU got on the board with a run in the first as Brad Buell led off with a single, stole second and came around to score on an RBI single from Alex Johnson.

    However, UIC came right back with two runs of their own in the first to take a 2-1 lead.

    That stood until the fourth when CSU plated two runs to tie the game at 3-3.

    Jon Foco reached on a one-out error and scored when Shaffer followed with a two-run homer, his third of the season.

    But UIC answered with four runs in the fourth and six more in the fifth to assume a 13-3 lead and would not trail the rest of the way.

    Shaffer added an RBI single in the sixth to score Foco, but the Flames once again answered with three more runs in the seventh.

     

     

    The Vikings plated their final two runs in the eighth on RBI singles from Josh Lowe and Tom Carter.

    Shaffer finished 2-for-3 with a run and three RBI, while Foco scored three runs.

    Anthony Sambula (3-4) took the loss, working 3.2 innings. He gave up seven runs on seven hits with one strikeout and five walks. Chris Kovacevich (7-4) threw six innings, giving up four runs on six hits with six strikeouts to earn the win for the Flames.

    Brett Shaffer went 2-for-2 with three runs and four RBI for UIC, while Andy Leonard was 4-for-5 with a run and three RBI.