After NIU’s Brian Toner struck out for the first out of the eighth inning of Sunday’s game, NIU baseball coach Ed Mathey took a stroll.

With Mike Santoro standing 90-feet away from home plate at third base and the Huskies leading Bowling Green 4-3, Mathey needed to ask pinch-hitter Tug Gillingham something.

The third-year coach looked over at Greg Larsen standing on first base, then made sure no one could hear him and softly asked, “Hey Tug, what would you think of a squeeze bunt?”

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but neither of them had any clue of how well it would work out in the end.

“I just told coach that I’d get it down,” said Gillingham who bunted the first pitch he saw.

Gillingham did just as he said he would and laid down a bunt that headed straight for the pitcher. But what happened next is something neither coach nor player could have scripted.

Santoro took off for home almost as soon as the ball left pitcher Nick Cantrell’s hand. And when Cantrell couldn’t cleanly pick up the ball, Santoro made the score 5-3.

Cantrell tried to get the out at first base, only to have his throw go wide, forcing first baseman Tyler Wasserman into the basepath. Gillingham and Wasserman collided and the ball bounced away into foul territory.

“When I saw the ball squirt away I immediately went for the extra base,” Gillingham said. “The worst case scenario is that I get in a rundown.”

Despite not being the quickest of players, Gillingham headed for second. But while the focus was at first base, Larsen was still running.

Larsen had walked just before Gillingham got up to bat and had also been running as soon as the bunt was laid down. Nobody paid attention to Larsen, so instead of stopping at third base, he made the turn.

And when Wasserman tried to get Gillingham at second, Larsen crossed the plate for what would end up being the winning run as the Huskies won 6-5.

“The timing on that play was excellent,” Mathey said. “It wasn’t exactly how we thought it up but it ended up being a huge inning. And we hadn’t had one of those in a while.”