A four-run eighth inning keyed a 7-6 win by Division III Aurora over the NIU baseball team on Wednesday evening at Ralph McKinzie Field.

Aurora’s Ryan Adams smacked a two-run home run in the eighth that tied the score at six. Before the game-tying shot, Tim Mackey drew the Spartans within two with a two-run triple. All four Aurora runs in the eighth were charged to NIU pitcher Tom Zelasko, who came into the game with a 6-2 lead.

The Huskies (7-14) had a runner in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings, but were unable to bring either home. Aurora took the lead in the eleventh inning when Brett VanAsdlen came home from third on a wild pitch by NIU pitcher Zach Badgley. The Spartans’ Jose Munoz Jr. retired the Huskies in the bottom of the inning to secure the win. Munoz Jr. came into the game in the sixth inning for starting pitcher Nick Pagano, and proceeded to earn the win while giving up one run and three hits over 5.1 innings.

“Our guys just stepped up today,” said Aurora head coach Shaun Neitzel. “One of things we have struggled with this year is battling up there at the plate trying to get better. Tim Mackey fouled a couple of pitches off and then the next thing you know he launches one, and then Adams comes up with the big knock and it was the same type of at-bat.”

NIU started the scoring in the first when Cory Krupp scored on a wild pitch by Pagano. Two more NIU runs crossed the plate in the second, when Kevin Smith and Trey Lang knocked in runs with sacrifice flys in consecutive at-bats.

The Huskies looked to be in full control after Lang extended the NIU lead to 5-0 with a fourth-inning home run. In the next half inning, though, the Spartans (8-5) came through with their first two runs, courtesy of a single by Josh Davidson and a throwing error by Krupp.

“I mean, I thought we played good today, but the bats weren’t there enough.” Lang said. “We played well enough to stick around, but it’s definitely a rough loss.”

Losing to a Division III school is a rough way to head into a weekend set against MAC foe Buffalo, but NIU head coach Ed Mathey believes the Huskies can use the loss as a way to bring up a lagging energy level.

“The thing I am going to point out to the team is that our energy level was very similar today to game one and two against Bowling Green (both losses last weekend),” Mathey said. “Our mentality to grind it out… I don’t think we did enough of that early in the game, and it came back to bite us. [Aurora] is the type of team we have to be if we want to be successful.”