March 9, 2001

Box Score

St. Louis, Mo. - Saint Louis pitcher Wes Jaillet held the UIC Flames to six scattered hits and struck out nine as the Flames dropped game one of its three-game series with the Billikens Friday afternoon, 7-5.

The Flames, who put themselves in a hole in the early innings against Tennessee Tech and Indiana recently, struck first against Saint Louis, plating a pair of runs in the first inning as Mark Homco (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) and Chuck Peters (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) both scored.

The Billikens cut that lead in half with a single run in the third, but UIC quickly upped its margin to 4-1 in the fourth frame as Chris Kerpan (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) and John Rosner (Ottawa, Ill./Marquette) both touched home for the Flames.

Saint Louis (6-5), however, scored a pair of runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take a 7-4 lead it would not surrender.

UIC (3-10) managed to add one more run in the eighth inning as Weber Bowen (Minnesota, Minn./Blake School) belted his second home run of the year. Rosner, who paced the Flames with a pair of hits on the afternoon, led off the ninth with a single to center field, but UIC's next three batters went down one-two-three to close out the game.

Flames' starter Steve Carlson (Newark, Ill./Newark) went the distance, giving up seven hits and five earned runs in eight innings while falling to 2-4 for the year. Jaillet improved to 3-1 on the season.

UIC and Saint Louis will meet again on Saturday for game two of their three-game series starting at 1:00 p.m.