Feb. 23, 2001

Box Score

Cookeville, Tenn. - The UIC baseball team took it on the chin Friday afternoon as Tennessee Tech thumped them for a 12-5 victory in its home opener.

The Golden Eagles (1-6) roughed up Flames' starter Steve Carlson (Newark, Ill./Newark) for two runs in both the first and second innings on just three hits. Carlson, who had been stellar in his first two starts of the year and entered the game with a 2.08 ERA, issued a pair of walks and hit two batters to aid Tennessee Tech's early inning rallies.

UIC (2-6) scored its first run of the afternoon in the top of the fourth as Nelson Gord (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Buffalo Grove) led off with a single to right center, moved over to second on a walk by J.P. Moran (Burlington, Wis./Westosha Central) and scored on Bob Rosinski's (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) single to right field.

Tennessee Tech, however, kept its offense rolling, plating two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to up its lead to 8-1. The Golden Eagles then capped off the rout with three more runs in the seventh and one in the eighth.

The Flames, whose offense managed only eight hits on the afternoon while striking out 10 times, were led by Gord, who went 3-for-5 with one run scored in his second start of the season at second base. Curtis Granderson (Lynwood, Ill./Thornton Fractional South) also tallied a pair of hits as he went 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season coming in the seventh inning.

UIC and Tennessee Tech will play the second game of their three-game series Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. and then wrap the weekend with a 1:00 p.m. outing on Sunday.