Eastern lost its first home game of the seasonj at Monier Field, as it split a doubleheader with visiting Northern Illinois University Wednesday afternoon.

Both games were close as the Panthers (21-14, 11-0) were able to take the opener 7-6, but lost the nightcap 8-6.

“These were two good ball games today,” Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said. “And even though we lost the second game, we battled all day long and were in position to win both games, which is a sign of a good team.”

The first game of the doubleheader was cruising along for the first three innings, as both the Panthers’ Jared Marshall and the Huskies’ Travis Smith did not allow a hit in their first three innings on the mound.

But in the fourth inning, back-to-back Northern Illinois singles and two intentional walks led to four Huskie runs.

The Panthers would get within one run in their half of the fourth when designated hitter Bret Pignatiello hit a three-run home run.

In the fifth inning, Eastern got two more runs off the bat of senior second baseman Josh Landon, who was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the first game, that tied the score at five after five innings.

In the seventh inning, the Huskies brought in righthander Brian Miller to hold a one run lead, but first baseman Brian Nickell took him deep over the left field wall to tie the score at six.

“First off, I just wanted to go up there and try to get a single and get on base,” Nickell said. “I was looking fastball and that’s what I got and was able to make some good contact.”

After a Danny Jordan strikeout, shortstop Chris Uhle singled, Landon doubled and Bob VanHoorebeck was intentionally walked to load up the bases for the heart of the Eastern lineup.

After third baseman Chris Martin struck out for the second Panther out of the inning, catcher Tim Aurrichio walked to bring in the winning run.

“The comeback in the first game was great,”Schmitz said. “We had Brian Nickell and Chris Uhle both get big hits and that is encouraging for us.”

The Eastern bright spots in game two were few and far between as they lost the second game 8-6.

The game started out promising enough as the Panthers were up 5-1 early after a Keith Laski RBI single and a Nickell grand slam.

Nickell, who had five RBIs on the day, said that the at-bat that he hit the grand slam was a lot like the at-bat where he hit a homerun in the first game.

“In the at-bat where I hit my second homerun I was just up there looking for a fastball like in the first at-bat, and I got it,” Nickell said.

But the game went downhill from there as the Panther pitchers gave up seven runs in the next six innings and were never able to recover.

“This was a couple of good ball games,”Northern Illinois head coach Dave Schrage said. “We knew coming in here these games would be tough, and to give them their first loss at home, which is no easy thing, will be a big confidence boost for our club.”