April 30, 2005
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
CHICAGO - On a day dominated by offense, no one stood out more than Cleveland State's Jackie Cornelius. The senior catcher went 4-for-5 with eight RBI and three runs scored to help the Vikings (16-23, 5-5 HL) earn a split at Horizon League-leading UIC on Saturday afternoon at Flames Field. CSU claimed the first game, 10-6, before the Flames (35-22, 11-3 HL) rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win the nightcap, 6-4.
It didn't look promising for the Vikings in the opener when UIC's Cameron Astiazaran led off the bottom of the first with a home run to left field.
CSU jumped ahead in the third, using three hits, four stolen bases and an error to push across a pair of runs. The Vikings added three more in the fifth when Anna Hubert came up with two outs and the bases loaded and responded with a triple to right field.
Cornelius put the game out of reach the next inning with her first career grand slam, pushing her career-best RBI total to five.
Grace Luginbuhl (11-11) earned the victory with five innings in relief of starter Christina Swierz. Brittany McIntyre took the loss for UIC to fall to 17-11.
The victory was just the fifth for in 34 meeting meetings with the Flames and snapped UIC's five-game winning streak.
Cornelius got things going again in the second contest, ripping a triple off the right field wall in the top of the first to stake the Vikings to a 2-0 lead. She then doubled the advantage in the third, tripling in another run before coming in to score on an error.
UIC would rally to tie the score in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs on five hits, a walk and an error. The Flames would then surge ahead in their next at-bat, thanks to back-to-back solo home runs from Joyce Cathy and Astiazaran.
Mercedes Lovato went the distance for UIC, surrendering seven hits and just one earned run to improve to 16-9. Luginbuhl took the loss for CSU, giving up three runs (two earned) in 1.1 innings in relief of Swierz.
"I thought today we finally played like one of the top teams in the league," CSU head coach Julie Jones said. "Jackie Cornelius was unstoppable -- they just didn't have an answer for her. The good thing about today is that we were disappointed we didn't come away with the sweep."
The teams will square off in the series finale on Sunday (May 1) at noon EDT.
