CHICAGO, Ill. – Indiana State connected on six home runs in support of strong starts from Connor Fenlong and Lane Miller as the Sycamores swept UIC in the series finale doubleheader at Curtis Granderson Stadium on Sunday, 13-7 and 10-1.
 
Indiana State (14-12, 5-1 MVC) rebounded from Friday's loss to the Flames to record their second MVC series win of the season. The Sunday sweep over UIC (10-13, 1-5 MVC) marked the third consecutive season ISU won their first two conference series dating back to 2021.
 
Head Coach Mitch Hannahs hit a coaching milestone on Sunday afternoon as the Sycamore skipper picked up his 100th career MVC coaching win following the sweep. Hannahs moved to 100-76-1 all-time in MVC play to become the fifth active conference coach to reach 100 career wins. He also became the fourth MVC coach in conference history to have at least 100 wins and an above .500 record in conference play after hitting the win milestone.
 
Mike Sears highlighted the Sycamores at the plate with his second two-homer game of the season in the opener. Randal Diaz added his second home run of the weekend, while Miguel Rivera, Adam Pottinger, and Keegan Watson also went deep on Sunday afternoon as the Sycamores exploded for 23 runs and 31 hits over the two games.
 
Fenlong recorded his team-leading third win of the year on the mound in Sunday's opener. Miller added his second win of the week after going eight innings and surrendering just three hits in the series finale against the Flames.
 
Game One: Indiana State 13, UIC 7
Mike Sears homered in his first two at-bats and Connor Fenlong pitched into the seventh inning as Indiana State took the first game in Sunday's doubleheader at Curtis Granderson Stadium, 13-7.
 
Sears recorded his second two-homer game of the 2023 season with a solo shot in the third and a two-run blast in the fourth to highlight a four-home run game for the ISU lineup. Miguel Rivera and Randal Diaz also went deep for the Sycamores as ISU evened the series with the win.
 
Fenlong (3-2) picked up his third win on the mound as the redshirt senior went 6.1 innings allowing nine hits and five runs. The Gouvernour, N.Y. native struck out four in his team-leading third win on the mound. Brennyn Cutts went the final 2.1 innings on the mound and added four strikeouts to close out the contest.
 
The Sycamores broke the game open with a six-run top of the sixth inning highlighted by Rivera's three-run home run. Grant Magill and Josue Urdaneta both added RBI singles in the inning to give ISU a 10-5 lead.
 
Indiana State added three more runs in the ninth highlighted by a Seth Gergely RBI single to close out the scoring.
 
Diaz and Sears both posted three-hit games to leave six Sycamores with multi-hit games in the opener. ISU connected on a season-best 16 hits with all nine starters reaching base in the game.
 
Charlie Szykowny, Breck Nowik, and Rayth Petersen all homered for UIC in the loss.
 
Ryan Karst (0-2) took the loss on the mound after surrendering seven hits and three runs over the first four innings. Kendall Lyons, Matt Zahora, Mark McCabe, and Reece Lawler closed out the game on the mound.
 
How They Scored

• UIC's Rayth Petersen connected on a one-out solo home run to left field to put the Flames ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the second.
• Mike Sears tied the game up at 1-1 in the top of the third inning with a leadoff solo home run to the left of the batter's eye in centerfield for his eighth blast of the season.
• Sears went deep for the second time in the top of fourth inning as his two-out, two-run home run cleared the left field wall and scored Miguel Rivera to put Indiana State ahead 3-1.
• Randal Diaz connected on a one-out solo home run to left field in the top of the fifth inning to put ISU ahead 4-1 at the midway point of the game.
• UIC cut the lead down to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth as Cole Conn connected on an RBI fielder's choice scoring Bobby Grimes.
• Miguel Rivera connected on a three-run home run, while Grant Magill and Josue Urdaneta had RBI singles to give Indiana State a 10-2 lead following a six-run top of the sixth inning.
• Brett Nowik made it a 10-3 game in the bottom of the sixth inning with a pinch-hit one-out solo home run under the scoreboard in left center.
• Charlie Szykowny sparked the Flames in the bottom of the seventh with a one-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to cut the ISU lead down to 10-5.
• Indiana State scored three runs to make it a 13-5 lead in the top of the ninth highlighted by a Seth Gergely RBI single.
• UIC took two runs back in the bottom of the ninth on AJ Henkle's two-run double to left center to provide the final 13-7 margin. 

Game Two: Indiana State 10, UIC 1
Lane Miller went eight strong innings for the second time this week and Adam Pottinger and Keegan Watson both homered as Indiana State topped UIC in the series finale, 10-1.
 
After going 8.0 innings in Tuesday night's 8-2 in over Purdue, Miller (2-0) got his second starting nod of the week in taking the mound against the Flames. The redshirt senior set the tone early with a pair of strikeouts in the first inning on his way to shutting down the UIC offense in the conference win.
 
Miller used 109 pitches and scattered three hits with Bobby Grimes' sixth-inning solo home run the lone blemish to his stat line. The Boonville, Ind. native surrendered three walks and struck out four to close out one of the best pitching weeks in Indiana State history.
 
The Sycamore offense supported Miller early and often as ISU put together a five-run fifth inning highlighted by Adam Pottinger's first home run of the weekend. Keegan Watson added a solo home run off the batter's eye in centerfield in the seventh, while Luis Hernandez and Josue Urdaneta both had two RBI in the ISU win.
 
Seth Gergely had a career-high four hits as the Sycamores scattered 15 hits over the final game of the weekend. Urdaneta, Hernandez, Rivera, and Pottinger all had multi-hit games while Grant Magill added a double to close out the series with the Flames.
 
Cameron Holycross worked a scoreless ninth inning to close out the contest.
 
Jeff Zack (1-1) took the loss allowing five hits and four runs while striking out six over the first four innings. Tyler Ingram, Peter Newton, Rigel Verciglio, and Mark McCabe closed out the game in relief.
 
How They Scored

• Adam Pottinger started the scoring with a leadoff solo home run in the top of the fifth to spark a five-run inning. Grant Magill, Josue Urdaneta, Miguel Rivera, and Keegan Watson all added RBI in the inning as the Sycamores sent 10 batters to the plate in the rally.
• Luis Hernandez made sure the Sycamores capitalized on a pair of UIC errors in the top of the sixth as the sophomore designated hitter connected on a two-out, two-run single scoring Seth Gergely and Josue Urdaneta to make it a 7-0 ISU lead.
• Bobby Grimes put the Flames on the board with a leadoff solo home run to left field in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-1.
• Keegan Watson homered for ISU and Josue Urdaneta added an RBI single in the top of the seventh inning as the Sycamores stretched the lead back out to 9-1.
• Rivera added his second RBI of the game with a double down the right field line scoring Randal Diaz to provide the final 10-1 margin.

News & Notes

• Due to the weather conditions over the weekend, Indiana State lined up in its third weekend doubleheader in as many weeks and fourth overall in the 2023 season on Sunday against the Flames.
• The Sycamores previously closed out series weekends with Kentucky (Mar. 4-5), Michigan State (Mar. 19), and Valparaiso (Mar. 25-26). ISU moved to 2-2 in weekend doubleheaders following Sunday's sweep over UIC.
• Head Coach Mitch Hannahs recorded his 100th career Missouri Valley Conference win on Sunday afternoon. The Sycamore skipper became the fifth active MVC coach to hit the mark and fourth MVC coach in conference history to have 100 wins and an above .500 mark in conference play.
• Fifteen of Indiana State's 33 home runs have come in Missouri Valley play following the nine home run weekend against the Flames at Curtis Granderson Stadium.
• Mike Sears extended his career best on-base streak to 22 consecutive games after reaching safely in both games. The streak was extended in the first game following his third-inning solo home run. He was hit by a pitch in the top of the fifth inning in game two.
• Sears' pair of home runs in the opening game gave him a team-leading nine in the 2023 season. It marked the most home runs by a Sycamore since 2021 when Max Wright connected on 16 home runs to pace ISU.
• Mike Sears' two-homer game in Sunday's opener made him the first ISU player since 2019 (Clay Dungan vs. Indiana (Mar. 19), vs. Valparaiso (Apr. 12) to post more than one multi-home run game in a season. Sears also homered twice against Valparaiso (March 26) in the first game of the doubleheader against the Beacons.
• Luis Hernandez extended his on-base streak to 19 games in Sunday's opener following his fifth inning walk in the first game and his single in the top of the fifth in game two.
• Keegan Watson ran his on-base streak to 14 consecutive games after doubling in game one and homering in game two on Sunday.
• Seth Gergely extended his hitting streak to 10 games after hitting safely in both contests on Sunday. He connected on a leadoff single in the first inning in game one and added a single in the top of the fifth in game two in recording his second double-digit hit streak of the season.
• Keegan Watson extended his hitting streak to 10 games following a double off the wall in left centerfield in the second inning in the first game.
• Seth Gergely connected on a career-high four hits in the final game of the weekend surpassing his previous mark of three hits set six different times throughout his career.
• Lane Miller became the first ISU pitcher to start two games in the same week since Brennyn Cutts accomplished the feat last season. Cutts started the midweek game against Illinois (Apr. 19, 2022) and then added a start on the weekend against Evansville (Apr. 24, 2022).
• Miller closed out the week following starts against Purdue and UIC with the following stat line: 16.0 IP, 11 hits, three runs, three walks, nine strikeouts on 209 pitches.

Up Next
Indiana State is back in Terre Haute on Tuesday afternoon as the Sycamores welcome Indiana University for the return trip of the home-and-home series in 2023. First pitch at Bob Warn Field between the Sycamores and Hoosiers is set for 5 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live via ESPN+ and 105.5 The Legend.
 
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