May 22, 2008

Niles, Ohio- The UIC baseball team begins the 2008 Horizon League Baseball Championship presented by U.S. Army against Valparaiso at Eastwood Field on Thursday night.

The top-seeded Flames (31-19) and the sixth-seeded Crusaders (20-33) will tangle at 6 p.m. Central. Fans can follow Thursday's game and every contest of the tournament live at horizonleaguenetwork.tv.

The defending champs will take on a familiar foe in Valpo. Thursday's game marks the fourth straight game that UIC will play the Crusaders. The two teams met on a total of five occasions in 2008, with UIC sweeping the season series.

Both squads engaged in a memorable doubleheader at Les Miller Field to close the regular season this past Saturday, with UIC coming out on top in a pair of thrilling victories decided in the ninth inning of each contest. The Flames' twinbill sweep of the Crusaders clinched UIC's seventh straight Horizon League regular season title and the top seed in the league title tilt.

Valparaiso earned the right to meet the Flames by defeating Butler, 6-5, in the play-in game on Tuesday and edging host Youngstown State, 3-2, on Wednesday.

The winner of Thursday night's game meets the winner of the Wright State-Milwaukee contest on Friday at 6 p.m. Central.