AUBURN, Ala. – The UIC baseball team dropped its season-opening contest to No. 8 Auburn, 5-3, Friday evening at Plainsman Park.
 
Joshua Figueroa drove in the first UIC runs of the season with a 2-run shot to left in the third inning to tie the game up at 2-all. The Flames added on a run via wild pitch in the fourth but were unable to climb-back from its two-run deficit in the closing innings.
 
Thomas Smart added a pair of hits while Cristian Lopez pitched two scoreless innings in his UIC debut.

The Flames resume their four-game series with the Tigers with a doubleheader Saturday. First pitch of the first game is slated for 1 p.m.
 
How It Happened

• The Tigers struck first, scoring a pair of runs in the opening inning. A leadoff double came around to score two batters later on an RBI single. Auburn tacked on its second run thanks to a run-scoring triple. Jacob Key worked around a first and third situation with two outs by inducing a fielder's choice ground ball.
• UIC evened the score at 2-all in the top of the third thanks to the long ball. Thomas Smart led off the inning with the Flames' first hit of the season, a single up the middle. Figueroa, the very next batter, launched a homerun to left.
• The tie game was short lived, as Auburn added a pair of runs in the bottom half of the third thanks to a sacrifice fly and an RBI single to third.
• The Flames offense continued to fire into the fourth, as Alex Dee led off the inning with a walk. With two outs, Smart delivered his second hit of the game, driving a double to left center and moving Dee to third. UIC was gifted a run when Tanner Burns' pitch found the backstop, bringing Dee in on the wild pitch. Figueroa looked to drive Smart home and tie the score up at four, but the catcher struck out swinging to end the threat.
• Auburn added an insurance run in the bottom half of the fourth on a pair of doubles. The Tigers had two runners on with two down, when Key ended the Auburn threat with a harmless flyout to center.
• Key pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth inning before handing the ball over to Lopez for his UIC debut. The Cypress College transfer worked through a jam in the seventh and tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning to keep the Flames within striking distance, but the offense was unable to present a threat in the closing innings.

 
News and Notes

• Three Flames made their UIC debut: Lopez, Brett Tressen and Cory Moore
• Figueroa's home run was the sixth of his career after hitting two in 2018 and three in 2019.
• Smart extended his hitting streak to six games, dating back to the end of last season. Figueroa has now hit safely in three consecutive games.