Feb. 20, 2011
Box Score
EDINBURG, Texas - The UIC baseball team concluded play at the Al Ogletree Classic at the University of Texas-Pan American Sunday morning, falling to the host Broncs, 9-1.
For the second straight game, the defense hurt the Flames (0-4) as they were plagued by four fielding errors which led to four unearned runs for the Broncs (3-0). In Saturday's loss to Saint Louis, UIC committed five errors.
UTPA struck first on Sunday morning, scoring the game's first run in the bottom of the first inning when leadoff man Tom Sicking walked, advanced to third on a pair of groundouts and scored when UIC starting pitcher Matt Salemi uncorked a wild pitch.
The 1-0 lead held until the top of the sixth inning when clean-up hitter Jason Ganek blasted the first Flames home run of the season, a solo shot over the left field wall, to knot the score at 1-1.
Southpaw Eric Wyman relieved Salemi in the bottom of the inning and he was rudely greeted by UTPA first baseman Angel Ibanez, who homered to the opposite field to put the Broncs back on top, 2-1. The senior worked out of the inning with no further damage; however, the homer by Ibanez would prove to be the game-winning run.
Salemi pitched 5.0 IP, allowing one earned run on three hits. Wyman took the loss, his first of the season. The left-hander allowed two hits, including the Ibanez home run, and struck out a pair in his one inning of work.
Chris Hoffman worked a scoreless seventh inning before the Broncs pushed seven insurance runs across off UIC's closer, Ganek, in the bottom half of the eighth. Only two of the runs were charged to Ganek, however, as the Flames uncharacteristically committed three errors in the inning.
The Flames will continue the season-opening 14-game road trip next weekend when they head to Lexington, Ky. to take on the SEC's Kentucky Wildcats in a three-game set. The series begins on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. with single games to follow on Saturday (3 p.m.) and Sunday (12 p.m.).
