LOUISVILLE, Ky. – UIC got out to a fast start once again Saturday, but could not maintain the advantage throughout as it left 15 runners on base, allowing second-seeded Indiana to stave off elimination and send the Flames home with a 9-5 victory at the NCAA Louisville Regional.

The Flames (29-23) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Scott Ota obliterated a pitch from Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Andrew Saalfrank and took over the wall to the opposite field for his 20^th home run of the season.

UIC starts the day with an oppo taco! ??#RoadToOmaha | @UICBaseball pic.twitter.com/ubAVYs9qLj

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 1, 2019

Indiana (37-22) took a one-run lead with three runs in the top of the second, but Joshua Figueroa blistered an RBI double that scored Ota from second base in the bottom of the third. The Hoosiers would add a run in the fourth to take the lead, an advantage that reached as many as six runs.

UIC scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to bring the tying run to the plate with the bases loaded, but the Flames could not come any closer before falling 9-5.

How It Happened

• As they did on Friday night against Louisville, UIC got on the board in the first inning with the help of a long ball. With Ryan Lin-Peistrup aboard after a base hit, Scott Ota worked a lengthy at-bat and crushed a home run to the opposite field in left-center to give the Flames a 2-0 edge. UIC picked up two more singles in the frame, but they could not add on.
• The Hoosiers scored three times with the benefit of only one hit in the top of the second. IU drew a walk and was hit by a pitch before Grant Richardson hit a two-run triple to tie the game. Richardson later scored by on a play that saw Ryan Hampe throw out a runner trying to steal second.
• The Flames were able to tie the game in the bottom of the third inning. Ota was walked to open the frame and he moved to second base on a wild pitch. Then Joshua Figueroa remained red hot by ripping a double down the left-field line to plate Ota and knot the score at 3-3.
• The tie was rather brief as the Hoosiers regained the advantage in the top of the fourth. Richardson opened with a base hit up the middle and he scored from first base when Jeremy Houston doubled down the left-field line to make it 4-3 in favor of Indiana.
• The Hoosiers added to the lead with a three-run home run in the top of the sixth. Indiana had two runners reach via a walk and hit batsmen before Lloyd went deep to right field to make it 7-3. IU added solo home runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to extend the lead to six runs.
• UIC chipped away in the bottom of the eighth without the benefit of a hit. Hampe was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring Sean Dee home before Matt Bottcher drew a bases-loaded walk on a full-count pitch that allowed Ryan Lin-Peistrup to score and bring the Flames within four. Tommy Sommer got a strikeout to end the inning and strand three UIC runners for the second time on the day.
• Alex Padilla worked around a one-out walk in the top of the ninth to keep the deficit at four runs and give the offense one more chance. Dee kept the line moving when he beat a massive shift and sliced a one-out triple to the left-field, but the Flames could not get him home and Indiana avoided elimination.

Notable

• Scott Ota hit a home run in the first inning for the fifth time this season. The senior finished his career as UIC's single-season leader in home runs with 20 and second in career home runs with 33. He is the first Horizon League player to hit at least 20 homers in a season since Jeff Lillash notched 22 for Cleveland State in 2000.
• Ota's 64 RBI in 2019 are tied with Mark Linkletter (1993) for the third-most in a single season for the Flames. The Foster City, Calif., native concluded his career with 163 RBI, most in program history.  
• Joshua Figueroa hit safely in his first five plate appearances in the NCAA Regional. He homered in his only at-bat on Friday before hitting safely in his first three at-bats against the Hoosiers. He was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning during his fourth appearance Saturday.
• Figueroa recorded a game-high three hits. It was the 15^th multi-hit game of the season for the redshirt sophomore who was the designated hitter for the first time this season. The Chicagoan batted .800 (4-for-5) with two extra-base hits and two RBI during the NCAA Tournament.
• Sean Dee hit his second triple of the season to give the Flames a five-way tie atop that leaderboard. Ota, Matt Bottcher, Thomas Smart and Chris Papapietro all tallied two triples in 2019 for UIC.
• David Becker started at first base for the first time since March 17. The senior made his seventh start overall at the position.
• Ota was the only UIC player to play in all 52 games. Figueroa was second on the team with 47 starts. Alex Padilla led the pitching staff with 27 appearances.
• Left-handed reliever Sam Menegat provided a career-high 3.2 IP with five strikeouts against the Hoosiers, also a career-high. He threw 74 pitches for the Flames while covering 11 outs.
• Padilla surrendered his first home run of the season, and all the fourth earned run he's given up at all in the top of the eighth. One batter after making a sensational diving catch, center fielder Derrick Patrick nearly robbed a home run from Drew Ashley, but the ball trickled over the fence for a solo shot.
• The Flames batted only .235 as a team in the NCAA Louisville Regional, but held the seventh overall seed Louisville and Big Ten regular-season champion Indiana to a mark of .234. UIC was just 1-for-22 with runners in scoring position, while the two opponents went 5-for-17 in those situations.
• UIC scored in the first inning in both games of the NCAA Louisville Regional. Saturday marked the 22^nd time that the Flames tallied a first-inning run, but only the seventh time that UIC fell short when doing so (15-7).
• The Flames were 22-0 when scoring at least six runs in a game this season, but came up short of that mark in both NCAA Regional contests. UIC scored three times in a 5-3 loss to No. 7 Louisville Friday night and five times Saturday against the Hoosiers.
• UIC is 2-12 all-time in NCAA Regional games. The last win came on May 31, 2008, when the Flames defeated Dallas Baptist in an elimination game, 9-5.