NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The UIC baseball team was unable to capitalize on a first-inning lead, as No. 4 Vanderbilt's high-powered offense led the way in a 9-3 victory.
 
Matt Bottcher, Alex Dee and Sean Dee all registered RBIs for the Flames, while Fred Gosbeth worked 3.1 scoreless innings in relief.
 
The Flames will look to take the series finale tomorrow afternoon, with first pitch set for 1 p.m.
 
How It Happened

• UIC struck first, scoring in the top half of the opening inning. Bottcher was hit by a pitch and Nick Lopez walked to give the Flames runners on first and second with one out. A. Dee delivered with a double down the left field line to drive in Bottcher and put the Flames up 1-0.
• The lead was short-lived, as Vanderbilt countered with five runs in the bottom half of the first and four additional runs in the second.
• After Nick Oliff got through the first two innings of play, the right-hander threw an additional 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball as UIC looked to get back into the contest.
• Gosbeth relieved Oliff and kept the Vandy offense at bay, allowing just three hits over the final 3.1 innings of play.
• The Flames tacked on a pair of runs in the seventh to cut the deficit to six. Back-to-back-to-back walks loaded the bases for UIC with one out. S. Dee was the fourth straight Flame to draw a walk, bringing in UIC's second run of the ball game. Bottcher added an RBI groundout to bring Ryan Lin-Peistrup and put an end to Saturday's scoring.

 News and Notes

• Brett Tressen and Lin-Peistrup extended their on-base steaks to three games each.
• Gosbeth has thrown a team-high six innings of relief and has registered a 1.50 ERA on the year.