There was a point in time where the Northwestern baseball team was clicking on all cylinders.

Heading into last week's game against Salisbury, the Tigers were atop the Colonial League West Division at 9-1 and one of two teams with just one conference loss. Despite only being through the midway point of the season, a playoff spot seemed inevitable.

Instead, the past several of days have brought on a number of challenges for the boys in black and gold. Their playoff positioning isn't quite as clear as it was just a week ago.

Losers of three of their last four games, including last Thursday's 10-0 shutout against Salisbury, Northwestern has dropped to 10-4 in the Colonial League. They're still leading the West, but the Tigers' lead is down to one game over Salisbury (8-4) with Southern Lehigh (8-5) also in the mix.

"We have to refocus," head coach Len Smith said after the Salisbury game. "We have to learn from this experience. We didn't play up to our ability this afternoon. It was uncharacteristic for us to boot the ball around the way we did and give them three, four and five outs an inning."

Saucon Valley (13-1) seems to have a grip on the No. 1 seed with four league games remaining. Notre Dame (Green Pond) is also in good position at 9-4.

The Tigers were able to halt a brief three-game losing streak with a hard-fought 6-5 win over Northern Lehigh on Mondany. But the Tigers began that losing skid with that Salisbury defeat, their worst loss of the season.

Errors were a big issue for Northwestern all game, with the Tigers committing an error in each of the first four innings. Salisbury's Nick Sikora started the second inning by reaching base on a Tiger infield error and later scoring on a CJ Tocci RBI-single.

Evan Kulig, who also pitched a two-hit shutout against Northwestern, drove in a run in the third inning to make it 2-0. Sikora's two-run single two batters later opened the flood gates and gave Salisbury an early 4-0 advantage.

"I think the errors gave them momentum no doubt about it," Smith said. "I don't think we've had a game with more than two all year. It's uncharacteristic for us. That gave them opportunities, and they took advantage of the opportunities."

Kulig, Sikora and Mike Palmer add recorded RBI-hits in the fourth to score four more runs, and Sikora's RBI-single in the fifth enforced the 10-run rule.

The Tigers' only scoring threat came briefly in the third inning. After Tyler Wiik led off the frame with a single, a Tiger pinch-runner advanced to second on Niko Fager's sacrifice bunt. But Kulig got Brady Mengel to ground out into a fielder's choice, and fanned Tyler Schreiner for his final of three strikeouts.

Since that loss to Salisbury, things have continued to be up and down for the Tigers. Northwestern then dropped consecutive games to Wilson (3-2 in 10 innings) and Southern Lehigh (7-6) before getting back in the win column against Northern Lehigh on Monday.

"We have a tendency to make it interesting," Smith said following the Northern Lehigh victory. "The last three games we've played have come down to the last inning and last at-bat, and it makes it a little too exciting for me."