CHICAGO – The UIC baseball team split a doubleheader with Valparaiso Friday afternoon at Granderson Stadium. Strong starting pitching and early offense lifted the Flames to a 9-7 victory in Game 1 before the offense was kept in check in a 8-3 defeat in Game 2 of the twinbill.
 
Game One Recap
Nate Peterson set the tone for what to expect from his outing early, as the left-hander struck out four batters of the first two innings of work.
 
The UIC offense gave the southpaw the lead in the bottom of the second inning after Cole Conn drove home a pair with a bases-loaded single through the right side, allowing Joshua Figueroa and Ryan Lin-Peistrup to score.
 
Peterson kept dealing on the mound, striking out three in the third and another to lead off the fourth, bringing his total up to eight on the day.
 
The Flames pushed the advantage to 6-0 in the fourth after a four-run inning. Back-to-back singles by Lin-Peistrup and Figueroa put runners on first and second with nobody out. Lin-Peistrup came home to score on a Beacon throwing error before Conn stepped up with a two-run double over the head of the left fielder. Breck Nowick tacked on the fourth run of the inning with a single through the right side to score Conn.
 
After giving up a pair of singles to open the top of the fifth, Peterson struck out the next three batters, bringing his total to 11. It marked just the seventh time in program history that a pitcher had two or more games with 11+ strikeouts and just the third time a pitcher has done it in the same season. Peterson opened the year with a career-high 13 strikeouts against New Mexico State.
 
Conn raised his RBI total to six on the day in the fifth has he hit his second double of the day, this time down the right field line, driving home Figueroa and Lin-Peistrup.
 
The teams traded runs in the sixth, putting UIC on top by a 9-1 margin before the Beacons looked to mount a comeback. Valpo used a five-run seventh inning to pull within three at 9-6. The Beacons put the first two runners on to start the ninth but Tanner Shears, who entered in the top of the eighth, limited Valpo to just one run and struck out the final two batters, leaving a pair of runners stranded in scoring position, to secure his first save.
 
Game 2 Recap
UIC's offense was largely kept at bay in Game 2 of the doubleheader. Following Rayth Petersen's one-out single in the bottom of the first, the Flames were held without a hit until Bryan Rosario connected on a double down the left field line to start the home half of the seventh.
 
Through the first six innings, Valpo built a 6-0 lead but Rosario's double kickstarted a small UIC rally. The Flames would go on to score a pair of runs in the seventh thanks to a pair of Valpo errors to make it a 6-2 ballgame.
 
Ryan Nagelbach added another run to the UIC tally in the eighth as his sacrifice fly made it 7-3, but Valpo tacked on a run in the ninth to close out the 8-3 decision.
 
UIC and Valparaiso are scheduled to complete the three-game series with a game Saturday afternoon at Valparaiso. Given the scheduled forecast, changes to the schedule may be forthcoming and will be announced as soon as possible.
 
News and Notes

• Conn's six RBI in Game 1 of the doubleheader are the most by any UIC player in a single game this season.
• Petersen and Nagelbach extended their on-base streaks to a team-leading 15 consecutive games.
• With hits in both contests, Rosario extended his hitting streak to eight contests in a row. Rosario is batting a team-best .355 at the plate.