As darkness set in over Ralph McKenzie Field, NIU’s Eric Sansouci stood at home plate in shock.

In the bottom of the 15th inning, Sansouci thought he had just tied the game up at four. Instead he was the third out of a triple play to end the game.

“There was no reason for me to leave [third base] early,” said Sansouci, who went 3-for-6, and was called out after the umpire said he didn’t tag up. “The umpire missed it. After battling for 15 innings -we deserved better than that.”

Northern Iowa (10-12) went up 4-3 in the top of the 15th inning with a walk and two straight singles. But NIU (5-13) loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the inning.

Left fielder Brian Toner stepped into the box and lined a 1-2 pitch to right field.

NIU’s Jake Blair was standing on second and was the potential winning run. When he saw the line drive he immediately headed for third, but the right fielder made a leaping catch and threw the ball to second for a double play.

And with his coaches yelling at him, the UNI infielder tossed the ball to third where the umpire said Sansouci didn’t tag up.

“I’ve seen a lot of crazy plays in baseball,” NIU coach Ed Mathey said, “but that’s a new one on me. Just goes to show that we have to make plays and not leave the game in the umpire’s hands.”

NIU’s Scott Simon played for the first time since March 15. Despite a wrist injury, Simon came in the bottom of the ninth to single in a game-tying run to send the game into extra innings.

The four-hour-and-20-minute contest is the longest game in NIU’s history. It also tied the school record for the most innings when the Huskies fell 4-3 to Western Michigan on April 13, 2003.

This game will haunt Mathey for a long time, he said. But he hopes his team has a shorter memory.

NIU will have to forget about the loss in order to play at its best at 1 p.m. today when it travels to Peoria to face Bradley.