TULSA, Okla. - The Northern Illinois University baseball team had eight hits and drew six walks on Sunday afternoon against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, but left 10 runners on base and was held to one run in a 6-1 loss at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
 
Sunday's game started as a pitcher's duel between NIU's Brandon McPherson (Chicago, Ill./Wabash Valley College) and Oral Roberts' Brooks Fowler. McPherson had three strikeouts in the first two innings with Fowler striking out four Huskies.
 
NIU (0-4) got its first hit in the top of the third. Junior second baseman Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) was the Huskies first baserunner of the day with a one-out walk. After a groundout got Nelson to second, Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) drew a walk. Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) then hit a single to right field. Nelson tried to score from second base but was thrown out at the plate by Matt Hogan.
 
Oral Roberts (4-0) had its first scoring chance in the bottom of the third inning. Blaze Brothers doubled down the left field line with one out, then advanced to third on a flyout. McPherson got out of the inning unscathed by getting Jake Quinn to ground out to end the frame. The senior threw three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks with three strikeouts.
 
"Brandon was electric on the mound in his first appearance in almost two years after an injury," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "He was great and I'm very excited for him and his family seeing his success."
 
The Golden Eagles broke the scoreless deadlock in the fourth against DJ Hess (Germantown, Wis./College of Lake County) in his NIU debut. Jake McMurray led off with a single up the middle, then got to second on a wild pitch. Hogan followed with a base hit to give ORU runners at the corners. Hogan stole second with Holden Breeze at the plate. Breeze hit a deep fly ball to right field that scored McMurray on a sacrifice fly to make the score 1-0. Jonah Cox then brought Hogan around to score on a groundout to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead.
 
The Huskies had a chance to tie the game in the top of the fifth. Nelson doubled to centerfield with one out. Malik Peters (Calumet City, Ill./Mount Carmel) was hit by a Fowler pitch to give NIU runners at first and second. Fowler got out of the inning with a flyout and groundout to keep NIU off the board. ORU then built on its lead with a Hogan three-run home run in the bottom of the inning to make the score 5-0. The Huskies left two runners on base in both the sixth and seventh innings.
 
ORU tacked on another run in the bottom of the eighth to go up 6-0. NIU scored its run in the top of the ninth. Peters started the two-out rally with a double. An Erato infield single gave the Huskies' runners at the corners. Pinch-hitter Brandon Johnson (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) drew a walk to load the bases. Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) brought Peters in with a single to make the score 6-1.
 
"This might not have been the weekend outcome that we wanted, but I believe this group has a chance to be up there with some of the great Huskie teams of the past," Kunigonis said. "We just need to do the things we've all seen the past seven months."
 
Andrew Smart (Evanston, Ill./Oakton CC) was 3-for-5 at the plate in Sunday's series finale. Erato was 1-for-3 with two walks.
 
Fowler earned the win on the mound for ORU, allowing three hits with four strikeouts in five innings. Hogan was 2-for-4 with four RBI.
 
NIU is next in action Feb. 24-26 at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. The Huskies will take on Monmouth on Friday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. CT, followed by a doubleheader against Penn State on Saturday, Feb. 25 starting at 11 a.m. CT. NIU wraps up the weekend against Maine on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 9 a.m. CT.
 
--NIU--