CHICAGO – In a battle of the top two teams in the Horizon League preseason poll, the UIC baseball team dropped a back-and-forth battle to Wright State, 7-5, to open a four-game series.
 
The Flames (3-8, 2-3 Horizon League) struck first, plating a pair of runs on an RBI single by Cory Moore. With one away, Thomas Smart hit a ground-rule double to right and advanced to third on Bryan Rosario's bunt single. Ryan Nagelbach walked to load the bases and after Joshua Figueroa struck out, Moore ripped a two-out single up the middle to drive home a pair.
 
The 2-0 lead held until the fifth inning when Wright State (9-5, 9-0) struck for four runs, capped by a three-run homer.
 
Ryan Lin-Peistrup started the Flames' seventh-inning rally with a leadoff double. Smart singled with one away to put runners on first and third for Rosario, who singled through the right side to drive home Lin-Peistrup and cut the deficit to one. UIC tacked on the tying run when Nagelbach's grounder went under the glove of the third baseman to even the score at 4-all.
 
With two away and runners on the corners, Nagelbach, who was at first, induced a throw to the second baseman. The throw put Nagelbach in a pickle, allowing Rosario to beat the throw home for the stolen base and put the Flames up 5-4.
 
The Raiders battled back, scoring a trio of runs in the eighth to regain the lead. Wright State looked to make it a four-run inning, but the inning was cut short when Garrett McCarthy threw a potential run out at the plate with a throw in from left. The inning gave Wright State a 7-5 lead that would hold up over the remaining two innings to take the series opener.
 
First pitch of Saturday's doubleheader is slated to begin at 12:05 p.m., with both contests being broadcast on ESPN3.