SPARTANBURG, S.C. –The Wofford baseball team dropped its first home game of the season by a 9-6 margin against Northern Illinois University on Sunday afternoon at Russell C. King Field. The Terriers led 5-0 going into the sixth inning before the Huskies scored eight runs over the sixth and seventh innings to take the lead.

Cullen Condon got the start for Wofford, giving up no runs, no hits and striking out four batters through four innings. Corben Childers, in his first relief appearance of the season followed, pitching for one inning with no hits, no runs and two strikeouts. Hiram Lewis, Cade Bouknight, PJ Fitzpatrick, and Champ Davis made relief appearances. John Gray, in his first appearance of the season, closed out the game for the Terriers, pitching for two innings. Gray gave up two hits, one run and struck out three batters.

The Terriers got off to a great start with a leadoff double from Cade Collins. After Ben Timblin walked, designated hitter Logan Tribble singled to bring Collins home for the Terriers' first run. Wofford would continue to bring in the runs as a double from Lucas Manning would help advance Hunter Herndon to third. A sacrifice fly from Collins brought in Herndon and Manning to push the Terriers' lead over NIU 3-0 to end the third. Wofford continued to be hot at the plate with Niko Brini hitting his first home run of the season, which brought in two runs to give the Terriers a 5-0 lead going into the sixth. A strong pitching effort from Cullen Condon and Corben Childers held the Huskies without a hit going into the sixth inning. They combined for six strikeouts and three walks.

Pitching efforts by Wofford took a turn in the sixth inning, which helped the Huskies bring in four runs on four hits. NIU would go on to score eight-straight runs to take over the lead in the seventh inning. The Huskies would hold Wofford to just one run over the last four innings to capture the 9-6 comeback win. P.J. Fitzpatrick (0-1) in his collegiate mound debut was handed the loss, while NIU Gavin Micklinghoff (1-1) was given the win and John Lyman (1) the save in today's game.

Quick Hits:

• Corben Childers and John Gray made their first appearances this season on the mound. While PJ Fitzpatrick made his collegiate debut. 
• Niko Brini hit his first home run of the season. Brini ended the game with one run, one hit, and two RBI.
• Cade Collins ended with two runs, a double and two RBI.
• This is the first time this season the Terriers have dropped a game when scoring five- or more runs.

The Terriers will bounce back on Tuesday, February 24, as they're slated to welcome Davidson to Russell C. King Field at 6 p.m.