May 17, 2002

MILWAUKEE - The four-game series that will decide the regular season Horizon League baseball championship begins tonight at Henry Aaron Field in Milwaukee.

UWM (31-15, 14-5) and UIC (33-13, 11-4) each enter the series needing to win three of four games to clinch the title outright. Should the two teams split, UIC would have to complete a suspended game at Youngstown State on Tuesday. The Flames lead that game, 2-0, in the bottom of the eighth inning and would win the crown by winning that contest.

UWM is looking to win its third-straight regular season league crown, while UIC is looking for its first regular-season title since 2000 when it split the title with the Panthers.

The two teams were picked to be atop the Horizon League standings at the start of the season, with the Panthers edging the Flames by three points in the coaches' pre-season poll.

The Flames opened their season 18-3 but have gone 15-10 since then. UIC has had four league games rained out and thus enters the weekend having played four fewer league games than the Panthers. UIC hits .333 as a team and its pitchers have posted a 3.15 ERA. Three players hit better than .400 for the Flames, while all four regular starting pitchers have posted season ERA's below 3.00.

The Panthers have moved to the top of the league standings on the strength of pitching. UWM has a 3.97 team ERA, including a 3.01 ERA in league contests. Senior Matt Freisleben is second in the nation with 15 saves. After starting the season 4-10 against a difficult early-season schedule, the Panthers have rattled off wins in 27 of their next 32 games, including a school-record 13-game winning streak. UWM enters the weekend having won 16 of 17 games and with a 15-1 mark at home.

Last year, UWM and UIC split their four games in the regular season before the Panthers recorded a memorable, 7-6, win over the Flames in the conference tournament in Chicago. UWM went on to the win the tournament title to claim its second-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Friday - 6 p.m.

UWM (Geoff Lefeber, 4-0, 1.98) vs. UIC (Ryan Gehring, 8-1, 2.65)

Saturday - doubleheader - 1 p.m.

UWM (Quintin Oldenburg, 7-2, 4.26; and Aaron Bushong, 4-3, 4.68) vs. UIC (Larry Banks, 7-5, 2.80; and Wes Gilliam, 5-1, 2.35)

Sunday - 12 p.m.

UWM (Rob Erickson, 2-1, 5.53) vs. UIC (Scott Anderson, 2-0, 2.39)