April 26, 2009
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two costly Viking errors led to three unearned runs as part of a four-run fifth inning as UIC defeated Cleveland State, 4-2, in the final game of the three-game series on Sunday at Viking Field.
The loss dropped CSU to 26-15 on the year and 14-5 in the Horizon League, two losses behind the league-leading Flames (22-22, 14-3) with just one three-game series for each squad to play.
"When you don't hit, you don't win. It is that simple," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "We did not hit all weekend long and it resulted in us losing our first league series.
"It is terribly disappointing because I thought that we were ready to play this series on our home field and we didn't come to play. Our fielding wasn't very sharp and we continually had weak at-bats."
What appeared to be a pitching dual between CSU's Amanda Macenko and UIC's Ashley Hewett was actually a little one-sided as the Vikings could manage just three hits against Hewett while the Flames had baserunners in every inning, leaving 10 on base.
UIC left six runners on in the first four frames as Macenko continually pitched her way out of trouble. CSU on the other hand could manage a Christa Coppus single in the first and a Lia Gordon walk in the fourth.
UIC took control in the fifth when Sarah Clynes led off with a double to left center and with one out, Stephanie Chavez singled, sending Clynes to third. Brooke Frydendall, who had three hits in the game, knocked a single through the left side of the infield to score Clynes. Shannon Kehr flew out to right, allowing the runners to advance to second and third.
The inning unraveled after that for CSU as Melissa Marinacci hit a sharp ground ball down the first base line that Mimi Mahon mishandled, allowing Chavez to score and Frydendall to take third. Hewett singled to score Frydendall and Marinacci came around to score on a throwing error by DeMatteis.
The Vikings cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame when Christa Coppus hit her eighth homerun of the season, a two-run blast to left that allowed her to drive in her team-leading 33rd and 34th runs of the year.
Brittany Bate relieved Macenko in the sixth and pitched a pair of scoreless innings to close out the game.
CSU had a pair of runners on with two outs in the sixth when Amanda Houchin singled and Shalyn Adams was hit by a pitch, but a ground ball out ended the threat.
Coppus walked with two outs in the seventh but Danielle Young fouled out to end the game.
Macenko was the losing pitcher, allowing four runs (one earned) on nine hits.
"Amanda really battled today against a really good hitting team," Nicholson said.
The Vikings return to action when this week when they play mid-week doubleheaders at Toledo on Tuesday (April 28) and Kent State on Wednesday (April 29).
