Illinois-Chicago was champion a year ago

The Flames beat Butler for the Horizon League championship at Wright State.
With one swing, Illinois-Chicago shortstop Jordan DeVoir ended the 2003 Horizon League baseball tournament and gave the Flames their first championship with a 2-1 victory over Butler in the title game last year at Wright State's Nischwitz Stadium.
DeVoir led off the ninth inning with a home run over the left-field wall to lift UIC, the regular season champion, to the victory over second-seeded Butler, and earned the school its first-ever NCAA regional berth.
With the score tied at 1, DeVoir's decisive blow came off Butler relief ace Randy Miles. UIC grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a solo home run by outfielder Mike Hughes. That lead held up until the eighth inning when Butler tied the game on a double by Justin McKinley, a bunt single by Jeff Albert and an infield ground out by Dale Mueller.
On a roll
UIC rolled to the title game by beating seventh-seeded Cleveland State, 11-4, third-seeded UW-Milwaukee, 6-4, and Butler, 9-0. Cleveland State emerged as the surprise of the tournament, winning three games. The Vikings won the play-in game, beating Detroit, 7-3, and then after the loss to the Flames, beat Wright State 5-4 and eliminated Youngstown State 10-4 before dropping a 7-6 decision to Butler in the semifinals.
Butler advanced to its third title game in school history after its 7-6 win over the Vikings and finished the tournament with a 2-2 record. The Bulldogs beat the Raiders 2-1 in 10 innings in the opener and then came from behind to beat Youngstown State 9-6, setting up their first game with UIC.
Youngstown State opened the tournament by beating UW-Milwaukee 9-6 for the Penguins' first-ever Horizon League postseason victory. YSU could not hold two three-run leads against Butler. The Penguins were then eliminated by Cleveland State.
UW-Milwaukee and Wright State finished the tournament without a win. The Panthers, who won the 2002 tournament, lost to Youngstown State before being eliminated 6-4 by UIC in a rematch of the 2002 title game. Wright State lost 2-1 in 10 innings to Butler in its opener, then were eliminated by Cleveland State the next day.