The Oakland University baseball team (6-19, 1-8 Horizon) lost its first home game of the season to the University of Illinois at Chicago by a score of 11-1 on Friday evening.

UIC (14-15, 9-6) pitcher Tomas Michelson threw eight innings and allowed only five hits and one run in the contest, shutting down a Grizzly offense that scored 14 runs against Central Michigan on Wednesday.

“Their pitcher was pretty tough,” OU Head Coach John Musachio said. “I thought we made an adjustment offensively and hit some balls hard but I tip my cap to UIC.”

Oakland fell behind early after allowing three runs in the first and one run in the second, prompting Musachio to head to the mound in the second inning in an attempt to calm starting pitcher Jason Hager.

“Jason is a precision pitcher and was getting frustrated with some of his borderline pitches,” Musachio said.

 “I told him to keep attacking and to concentrate on controlling the things he can control. He’s a warrior for us, there was no way I was pulling him in the second inning.”

UIC tallied runs in five of the nine innings and even after Hager was pulled in the fifth, the bullpen surrendered three runs of its own throughout the remainder of the game.

The Grizzlies’ offensive woes resembled their pitching struggles. It wasn’t until the third inning that OU found its first hit after catcher Jake Morton recorded a single on a ground ball through the middle. 

It took until the seventh inning to get a run across when third baseman Spencer Marentette drove an RBI single into left field.

At the end of the game, UIC had scored 11 runs on 14 hits with three errors while OU notched one run on five hits with two errors.

The loss to UIC keeps Oakland winless against Horizon League opponents on the season, dropping them to 0-7 in such games.

“I think we need to execute better on the mound tomorrow,” Musachio said. “We have a good team and if we get a couple good starts tomorrow, I think we’ll be right there to contend.”

The Grizzlies went on to finish the series with a double-header on Saturday at the OU Baseball Field beginning at noon. 

The Flames defeated the Grizzlies 16-6 in the first game, with Oakland coming back to win the second, 15-3, good for their first conference win as a member of the Horizon League.

Contact Staff Reporter Adam Kujawski via emai at [email protected].