BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Pitcher Brandon McPherson shut out Bowling Green for five innings and the Northern Illinois University baseball team pounded out 15 hits, but the Falcons overcame a 3-0 deficit to defeat NIU 5-4 in 10 innings Saturday at Steller Field.
 
Bowling Green's Justin Fugitt doubled off of NIU reliever Mason Ruh to open the bottom of the 10th and Sam Seidel's single put runners on first and third. After Kyle Gurney was intentionally walked to load the bases, Tyler Ross was hit by pitch, scoring Fugitt with the winning run.
 
The Huskies (8-40, 4-21 MAC) had tied the score at four in the top of the ninth. Eric Erato walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Aaron Harper's single. Erato went 2-for-4, scored twice and walked twice on the day while Harper and shortstop Andre Demetral each collected three hits.
 
NIU starter McPherson allowed just two hits and struck out three without allowing a run through five innings as the Huskies built a 3-0 lead with single runs in each of the first three innings. The Huskies got on the board in the first on an Erato single, Demetral double and Colin Summerhill sac fly and added a run in the second when Andrew Smart walked, went to second on a Tyler Thierry single and scored on back-to-back passed balls. In the third, Harper singled, stole second and came around to score on a Smart double.
 
Bowling Green (18-28, 11-15 MAC) scored four runs on just one hit in the seventh. Huskie reliever Jackson Stewart, who had come on in the sixth to relieve McPherson, walked the bases loaded. After Mason Ruh replaced Stewart on the mound, BG's Jack Krause tripled down the right field line to tie the score 3-3.  He scored one batter later on a Fugitt ground out.
 
Ruh (2-3) took the loss for NIU while Bowling Green's sixth pitcher of the game, D.J. Newman (2-2) earned the win with just one-third of an inning of work.
 
The teams wrap up the three-game series Sunday with first pitch at Noon (CT).
 
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