The Northern Illinois University baseball team erased an early 7-0 Ohio Bobcats lead on Saturday but came up one run short as Ohio took a 17-16 win in 12 innings at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt & Janice Owens Park.

Eight different Huskies drove in a run in Saturday’s game, with seven of them driving in at least two. Logan Gregorio (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) each went 3-for-7 in the game with a home run. Gregorio drove in three runs as Baldwin drove in a pair. JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) had a game-high four hits, including three doubles, to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

“Those guys believe in themselves right now,” said head coach Ryan Copeland. “They’re confident and are having good at-bats. It was a day for offense and they’re really good about being on the barrel and getting the ball up in the air. If you would have told me we were going to score 16 runs today I would have liked our chances.”

NIU (11-18, 2-9 MAC) was down 7-1 going into the bottom of the fifth. The Huskies closed within two runs in the inning, scoring four times highlighted by an Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) two-run single to make the score 7-5. Ohio went back up by three in the top of the sixth as a double steal put the Bobcats up 8-5. NIU answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning as RBI doubles from Baldwin and Gauthier made the score 8-7.

Ohio (8-21, 4-10 MAC) extended its lead in the top of the seventh as a Jackson Cauthron solo home run put the visitors up 9-7. NIU tied the game quickly in the bottom of the seventh. Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kaskaskia College) led off with a single. Cooper Cohn then crushed a home run to straight away centerfield over the batter’s eye to level the game 9-9. With two outs, Gregorio put NIU ahead 10-9 with a solo home run over the left field fence. Baldwin then hit a ball off the left field wall and rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run to give the Huskies an 11-9 lead.

The Bobcats tied the game in the top of the eighth on a two-out, two-run double from Trae Cassidy. NIU had a chance to win it in the ninth with runners at first and second and two away but a Gauthier flyout sent the game to extra innings.

Ohio took a 13-11 lead in the top of the tenth on a two-run home run by Ben Slanker, his second home run of the game. Bobcats reliever Trey Barkman retired the first two Huskies he faced in the bottom of the tenth, but then walked Cohn, CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) and Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) to load the bases. Gregorio then laced a single off the glove of Ohio second baseman Cameron Bryant, which scored Cohn and Cepicky to tie the game at 13.

In the 12th, Ohio scored four runs including two on a two-out error to go up 17-13. NIU’s first two hitters reached base in the bottom of the inning as Loyd got on via an error and Cohn walked. After a popout, Parcell hit a three-run home run right down the right field line to make the score 17-16. Ohio then went to reliever Julian Robertson out of the bullpen. Robertson got Gregorio to flyout to Slanker in the right field corner for the second out. Baldwin then fouled out to the catcher Cauthron to end the game.

“It just felt like when the moment got big, we were not able to find a way to go win it,” Copeland said. “We had a couple chances offensively late in the game but we didn’t get the big hit from guys we rely on. Every run matters, and we fought and competed but that doesn’t always get you wins.”

Saturday’s game was the 11^th straight for NIU with a home run, and it’s fourth with a season-high four. Gregorio went yard for the third time in four games and leads the Huskies with 12 home runs and 40 RBI on the year.

This weekend’s series wraps up Sunday, April 6 at 1 p.m. CT.