SAN ANTONIO – The UIC baseball team (0-1, 0-0 MVC) opened the 2026 regular season Friday afternoon, as the Flames began a three-game series against Incarnate Word (1-0, 0-0 SLC). The Cardinals grabbed the early lead in the home half of the first innings, plating a pair of runs against Flames starter
Mason Lei. The junior right-hander battled hard in his UIC debut Friday, getting through five complete while allowing just four hits. Incarnate Word would add two more in the fourth before
Lei's fifth inning departure and tallied a fifth run in the sixth inning before the UIC offense got going in the top half of the eighth.
The Flames scored their first run on a double play in the top of the eighth inning, and
Thomas Curry added two more on an RBI double down the left field line, scoring
Sean Cody and
Will Flanigan to bring UIC within two at 5-3.
Incarnate Word answered with three of its own runs in the home half of the eighth and went on to win by an 8-3 final score.
The Flames and Cardinals will continue their three-game series Saturday afternoon, with first pitch slated for 2 p.m. CT. Live stats are available via the schedule page, but no live video will be available for the series.
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