The University of Northern Colorado baseball team finally was slowed Sunday, and it took some heavy rains in the Chicago area to do it.
The final two games of the Bears’ four-game series against Chicago State were washed out Sunday, leaving UNC’s Great West Conference win streak at 14 and its overall run of success at 10 straight games.
After 7-3 and 14-2 wins over the Cougars this weekend, the Bears now stand at 22-27 overall and 18-4 in the GWC. That sets up a regular-season ending series showdown at Utah Valley, which leads the conference at 19-1 and 27-20 overall. The four-game set is scheduled to begin Thursday.
UNC entered the Chicago State series off four-game series sweeps of Texas-Pan American, New Jersey Institute of Technology and North Dakota, and the Bears picked right up where they left off with a 7-3 win on Friday. Juniors Adam Hilker and Ben Packard had a pair of RBIs apiece, while Joe Willman nad his younger brother Kevin were in control on the mound, limiting the Cougars to three runs and seven hits over nine innings.
On Saturday, Hilker and senior Marcus Valenzuela had three hits apiece to pace a 14-hit UNC attack in a 14-2, seven-inning romp. Hilker had three RBIs, while Valenzuela scored four runs.
Junior Jarod Berggren had a pair of hits to extend his hitting streak to 16 games.
Freshman starter Chris Hammer and senior Josh Boyer combined to hold Chicago State to a pair of runs on three hits over seven innings.