CHICAGO – UIC manufactured runs when it mattered Tuesday afternoon and the Flames knocked off the Roosevelt Lakers in the first game of the season at Granderson Stadium, 4-3.
 
UIC junior Scott Ota picked up hits in his first three at-bats against Roosevelt starter Matt Dunne, including an RBI single in the third and run-scoring double in the fifth. Matt Bottcher added a pair of hits and scored the game-winning run, while he and Thomas Norton scored two runs apiece for the Flames.
 
Nick Simonian made an emergency start for UIC and he delivered 4.0 shutout innings with four strikeouts. Noah Masa notched the victory, his first of the season, with 1.1 IP in relief, while Alex Padilla picked up his third save of the season.
 
How It Happened
The first two Lakers Simonian faced in his Granderson Stadium debut reached via base hits, but he soon settled and struck out two Roosevelt hitters in succession to end the frame and the offense went right to work.
 
Norton drew a walk from Dunne to open the bottom of the first inning and he went from first-to-third on Ota's rope to right field two batters later. Aaron Ackerman then delivered the first run of the day with an RBI groundout to the right side.
 
It was 1-0 still in the bottom of the third when Norton ignited the offense a second time. This time the junior delivered a base hit to right-center field and made second on a sacrifice bunt from Bottcher. Ota drove in another run for the Flames and brought Norton home with a base hit up the middle.
 
Simonian's outing was finished after four and the Lakers greeted UIC's bullpen by scoring three times in the top of the fifth. Parker Coleman singled and scored two batters later on a base hit from Tyler Ward. The next hitter, cleanup man Zach Taylor, blasted a home run deep to left-center field that put Roosevelt in front 3-2, its first lead of the day.
 
The advantage didn't last long, however, as Bottcher and Ota teamed up to even the ledger. Bottcher began the inning with a double to left-center field and Ota followed with his own two-bagger to the wall in right field. Bottcher scored on Ota's shot to make it 3-3.
 
The Flames took the lead once and for all in the bottom of the seventh. Bottcher singled, Ota reached on an error and Bowen Ogata was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Roosevelt reliever Matt Garbacz picked up a huge strikeout for the second out, but he lost a full-count battle to UIC's Riley Hebert as the designated hitter drew a free pass to drive in Bottcher as the go-ahead run.
 
Charlie Cerny relieved Noah Masa in the top of the eighth and the former struck out the side. Alex Padilla spelled Cerny in the ninth and nailed down his third save with the help of a strikeout and a game-ending double play.

Beyond The Box Score

• Scott Ota raised his batting average 31 points and he is now hitting .531 with 11 RBI through eight games for the Flames. He is hitting .667 (10-of-15) with four doubles over the last three UIC games.
• Charlie Cerny has appeared out of the bullpen for the Flames in six of the team's eight games. He owns 9.1 IP with 17 strikeouts, including three on Tuesday. The junior has not walked a batter this season.
• Alex Padilla earned his 13^th career save in a UIC uniform. That places him in a tie for third on the all-time list alongside David Cales and Adam Worthington. David Haehnel is second with 16, while Brett Davis is the all-time leader with 30.
• Matt Bottcher matched career highs with two hits and two runs scored. It was his first multi-hit game of the season.
• Thomas Norton has hit safely in seven straight games for UIC. He is batting .429 with 12 hits in that span.
• UIC did not commit an error in the field for the first time since the first game of the season, a 3-0 victory over Southern on February 16. The Flames led the nation in fielding percentage in 2017.

Postgame Reaction