NIU’s Jeremy Busch reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, ending Wisconsin-Milwaukee pitcher Ben Stanczyk’s perfect-game bid during the first of two games at Ralph McKinzie Field on Tuesday.

The opportunity to throw a no-hitter still was there if he could get through the heart of the Huskies’ lineup in the last inning.

NIU’s Eric Sansouci and Rob Marconi each sent weak fly balls to right field for the first two outs of the inning, which left NIU’s top hitter, Scott Simon, as the last obstacle Stancyzk had to overcome.

After fouling the first pitch off, Simon rifled a single into center field for the first Huskies hit, leaving Stanczyk with a chance to lose the game with one more bad pitch.

NIU got a single from Mike Hochhauser to score Busch, but with the tying run on third, right fielder Jake Blair struck out, swinging to end the game.

“It’s tough,” Stanczyk said of losing the no-hitter on the last out. “In high school, I had a couple games like that, but it’s never over until you get that last out.”

The 6-foot-2 right-hander wanted to get ahead of hitters and make them put the ball in play. He struck out eight Huskies and walked none.

“We just kept getting outs and outs, and sooner or later, it was the seventh inning, and wow,” Stanczyk said. “I was just having fun out there.”

Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach Jerry Augustine, who pitched in the major leagues for the Milwaukee Brewers (1975-’84), said he was happy with how his right-hander pitched but was sad he lost the no-hitter.

Simon, who broke up the no-hit bid, said Stanczyk’s formula for success was pretty simple.

“He was pretty much throwing strikes and keeping us off balance,” Simon said. “He wasn’t really doing anything that great – just throwing strikes.”