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The 2012 Horizon League Baseball Tournament opens on Wednesday afternoon with the fourth-seeded UIC Flames going up against the fifth-seeded Butler Bulldogs. UIC finished the regular season at 19-32 overall and 12-17 in conference, while Butler ended the year 22-32, 10-20 in the Horizon League. The game will be streaming live at HorizonLeague.org.
The Flames will be led by junior Alex Grunenwald, who led the team with a .326 batting average on the season. Much of the postseason burden for UIC will also fall on the shoulders of junior pitcher Joey Begel, who held the Bulldogs to just four hits and one earned run over eight innings when he saw them on Thursday.
Sixth-seeded Youngstown State will play third-seeded Milwaukee in the other first round game on Wednesday. The lowest seed remaining from the first round will play top-seeded Valparaiso on Thursday, while the higher seed will face Wright State.
Butler vs. UIC will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
For more on the 2012 Horizon League Baseball Tournament, keep it locked to SB Nation Chicago.