March 13, 2011
Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - For the second straight afternoon the UIC baseball team was narrowly defeated by the nationally-ranked No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores at Charles Hawkins Field, 2-1.
UIC (3-10) carried a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning; starter Joey Begel surrendered a lone run in that frame to knot the game at one before reliever Chris Hoffman (1-1) allowed another tally in the bottom of the ninth to send Vanderbilt (16-1) home with a series sweep of the Flames.
Hoffman hit the first man he faced in the ninth inning and walked the second to get off to an ominous start. Mike Yastrzemski reached on a bunt single to load the bases and Anthony Gomez took the first pitch he saw from Hoffman back up the middle to allow Joe Loftus to score the game-winning run.
Navery Moore (3-0) worked a scoreless top of the ninth inning for the Commodores to notch his third win this season.
For the second straight day, UIC's offense struck first at Charles Hawkins Field. Steve McGuiggan led off the inning and reached base via hit by pitch. The next batter, shortstop Ryan Shober laid down a bunt single to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Catcher Andy Leonard delivered the first big hit of the day, driving a single through the left side which allowed McGuiggan to score from second base and give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
Both starting pitchers, Begel and Vanderbilt's Taylor Hill continued to dominate in the matinee finale. Begel held the Commodores scoreless into the bottom of the eighth inning before running into a bit of trouble. Gomez led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, moved to second on a ground out back to Begel and to third on a wild pitch. Clean-up batter Jason Esposito got the job done with a fly out to center field to allow Gomez to score and tie the game at one.
After surrendering a walk and a double that put runners on second and third, Begel's afternoon was finished. The sophomore scattered eight hits over 7.2 IP, while allowing just the lone run. Begel struck out a career-high five batters in his fourth start in 2011.
Lefty Eric Wyman came in with two men in scoring position and induced a fly ball to right field off the bat of pinch hitter Connor Harrell to end the threat.
After a season-long 13-game road trip to start the season, UIC will finally return to Chicago to play eight of its next nine games at Les Miller Field. Opening Day at The Mill is set for Friday, March 18 at 4:05 p.m. when the Flames will host the University of Wisconsin-Superior in a brief two-game set.
