MIAMI – The UIC baseball team opened the 2021 season down in Miami, taking on Florida International Friday (Feb. 19) evening to open a three-game series. Despite outscoring the Panthers 4-1 over the final eight innings, the Flames were unable to come back from an early deficit, falling 9-4.
 
The Panthers put up a crooked number to open the game in the bottom of the first. FIU scored eight times on four hits, five walks and a UIC error. Fred Gosbeth came out of the bullpen in relief in the first inning and punched out a pair of Panthers, including one to end the frame.
 
The Flames dented the scoreboard for the first time in 2021 in the top of the third inning. Thomas Norton reached on an error to begin the stanza and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Two batters later, leadoff man Thomas Smart belted the fourth home run of his career, a two-run shot to right field.
 
UIC held FIU at bay until the bottom of the fifth inning when the home team struck for another run thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Juan Teixeira. It was his second run driven in and that tally pushed the home team's advantage to seven runs at 9-2.
 
The Flames added another run in the bottom of the eighth. Norton singled to start the inning, but he was erased on a fielder's choice from Bryan Rosario. With Rosario now aboard later in the inning, Matt Bottcher roped an RBI triple to right-center field to shrink the deficit once again.
 
UIC added its fourth and final run in the top of the ninth when freshman Cole Conn, who started Friday's game in his collegiate debut, homered to close the book on UIC's scoring.
 
The three-game series will come to a close Saturday, with the teams scheduled to play a doubleheader beginning at 2:00 p.m. (ET).
 
News and Notes

• Smart hit his fourth-career homer with his two-run shot in the third inning.
• Bottcher's RBI triple in the eighth was the fifth of his career. He has now reached base safely in eight consecutive games dating back to the end of the 2020 season.
• Gosbeth's five strikeouts fell one shy of his career-high of six, set last year against Georgetown.