CHICAGO – The UIC baseball team dropped a 12-5 decision to Wright State Sunday (March 21) afternoon to cap a four-game series against the league-leading Raiders.
 
Thomas Smart led the way, going 3-for-5 at the plate, while Ryan Naglebach drove in a pair of runs.
 
For the third time in the four-game set, UIC (3-11, 2-6 HL) scored the game's first run. After Tanner Shears set the Raiders (12-5, 12-0) down in order in the top of the first, Smart led of the home half of the inning with a single to right. Cole Conn followed with a single of his own, putting two on with nobody out for Nagelbach.
 
The freshman laid down the sac bunt to move the runners up 90 feet, allowing Cory Moore to hit a sac fly to center to bring home Smart and give UIC the 1-0 lead.
 
Wright State countered with three runs in the top of the third to take a 3-1 lead but UIC quickly struck back with a run of their own in the bottom of the third.
 
It was Smart and Conn setting the foundation once again, with the pair hitting back-to-back one-out singles before moving up 90 feet on a Raider balk. Nagelbach lifted a sac fly to left, allowing Smart to score and Conn to advance to third, but the Flames left the tying run on third base.
 
The Raiders pulled away from UIC with four runs in the fourth, a run in the sixth, three more in the seventh and a final run in the eighth to take a 12-2 lead.
 
UIC countered with their most productive inning Sunday in the bottom of the eighth. Austin Franczak reached on an error to start the inning, with Smart following with a single, his third hit of the game, to put two on with nobody out. Nagelbach recorded his second RBI of the day with a single through the left side to drive home Franczak before Moore walked to load the bsaes.
 
Joshua Figueroa brought the score to 12-4 with a sac fly to center, driving home Smart. Garrett McCarthy ripped a two-out single to left allowing Nagelbach to come around and score and trim Wright State's lead to the final tally of 12-5.
 
UIC hits the road for eight consecutive games, starting with a four-game set at Oakland March 26-28.