NORMAL & Bilal Omar probably wishes he could have one play back.

During the NIU baseball team’s loss Tuesday, the shortstop was called for two errors and cost the Huskies two runs, giving Illinois State a 3-1 lead. If Omar didn’t bobble and throw the ball away, he would have converted a double-play, ending the fourth inning of a game the Huskies eventually lost 7-4.

Unfortunately for Omar, who committed his third error of the day in the bottom of the seventh inning, he is now in second place for most errors in an NIU career. For the season, he has 24 and needs just one more to have the most error-prone career in Huskies history. Mike O’Neal now holds that dubious distinction with 49 errors.

“That was a big play,” NIU coach Dave Schrage said of Omar’s mistake Tuesday. “I don’t want to say that one play was the game, but that was the turning point of the game.”

The Huskies (22-24) were able to get on board first as Omar grounded out to score Rob Marconi to take the 1-0 lead.

After the Redbirds scored two runs in the fourth inning, Jared Dufault, ranked No. 23 in the nation in hitting, nailed a solo shot to left center to put his team ahead 4-1.

Dufault hit a single in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring in Scott Legan and give Illinois State the 5-1 lead. The Redbirds added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning when Jake Perganson hit a 2-out RBI single up the middle to make it 7-1.

Kyle Kimme put the Huskies back in the game in the top of the eighth. The senior third baseman hit a double to center field, scoring John Brock and Noel Danielson and cutting the Redbirds’ lead to 7-3. Kimme was brought home after ISU’s Ryan Cantrell threw a wild pitch, bringing the score to 7-4.

“I really liked our effort today,” Schrage said. “The game just boiled down to getting that 2-out RBI hit. We had a lot of chances. I thought we were one hit away from getting back in there. To credit Illinois State, they played great defense.”

The only true bright spot for the Huskies came from Dan Urban, the sophomore left fielder who hit two doubles, giving him 19 on the season and breaking the single-season record for most doubles in a season. Junior right fielder Pat Kerrigan held the previous record with 18 doubles in a season last year.

“It is surprising to see Danny play this well,” Schrage said. “His best baseball is still ahead of him.”

Redshirt freshman Travis Smith (1-1) pitched five innings, giving up eight hits, five runs — two earned — and one walk. Smith did, however, strike out three Redbird batters. The Huskies used five pitchers for the game.

“I was really happy with Travis Smith’s performance today,” Schrage said. “He is getting valuable experience out there. He is going to be a good one down the road.”

The Huskies return home to face Valparaiso at 3 p.m. today. The Crusaders split against Ball State in last weekend’s series and defeated nationally-ranked Notre Dame earlier in the season.