It was a must-win game Sunday for the NIU baseball team.

After dropping the first two games against Western Michigan, 7-4 and 5-4 respectively, the Huskies were in a battle for their MAC tournament lives on Sunday afternoon.

NIU (23-26 overall, 8-13 MAC) was unable to overcome an early 6-0 deficit, however, as it lost the game 7-2.

Sophomore pitcher Brian Smith lasted six innings and took the loss for the Huskies.

The NIU coaching staff also approached Saturday’s 5-4 11-inning loss as a game they had to win.

“We talked about the breakdown of this game,” coach Ed Mathey said. “We tried to coach today like it was a must win. We let [Matt] German get extended [2.2 innings] because we wanted to win that one.”

A see-saw affair throughout, WMU loaded the bases in the bottom of the 11th.

A foul ball by WMU second baseman down the left field line turned into a game-winning sacrifice fly. NIU junior left fielder Jeff Thomas made the catch, but couldn’t throw out Chris Onderlinde in a play at the plate.

“Jeff is going to go and catch everything,” Mathey said. “That’s a situation that’s tough to simulate in practice. Jeff made an aggressive play. There is no doubt in my mind he thought he’d throw out the runner at home, and he almost did.”

At the plate, Bobby Stevens continues to settle into the two hole in the lineup. The freshman shortstop has back-to-back three-hit games.

“I feel like I’m coming around,” Stevens said. “I’ve got more confidence, some more experience and that I’m coming into my own.”

Each team pounded out 13 hits. WMU shortstop Zach Gentile had five hits in the game. For NIU, junior first baseman Scott Simon had two hits. One was a solo shot in the two-run NIU first. Senior right fielder Brian Toner had two hits and an RBI and junior designated hitter Brian Smith had a pair of doubles.

“I feel better knowing that I am getting some consistent hits,” Smith said. “I want to be on the mound tomorrow, I know it is a huge make or break point in our season.”

The NIU bullpen turned in another solid performance as Mark Badgley, Brandon Copp and German didn’t allow an earned run and combined to strike out five in five and two thirds of an inning.

“The last couple [MAC] games have been tough losses,” Mathey said. “We made some tough mistake that cost us. Today was a good game; their coach said to me afterwards that it was a shame someone had to lose a game like this.”

NIU fell behind 5-0 in game one and couldn’t get its offense on track until a solo home run from senior designated hitter in the top of the fifth.

Junior second baseman Marc Besteman led off the seventh inning with a single and scored on a triple from sophomore center fielder Pat Minogue. A lined shot to center from Toner scored Minogue to trim the deficit to 6-3. WMU answered with a run in the bottom half of the seventh to make the score 6-3.

Thomas closed out the scoring for NIU when he scored on an RBI ground out from Besteman. Senior starting pitcher Nick Hall went 6.1 innings, gave up six hits and fell to 4-5 on the season

“We have to try and steal the last one,” Mathey said. “Such is the lament of a team that is 0-2 on a road trip.”