Ben Boyer has made a good impression on the new boss of Northwestern Lehigh’s varsity baseball program.

In the team’s first two games, Boyer gave new head coach Chad Cooperman five strong innings on the mound and went a combined 6-for-9 (.667) in the team’s first two games. The Tigers beat rival Northern Lehigh 11-1 in the season opener Friday in Slatington before dropping their home opener to Freedom in a nonconference game.

Against the Bulldogs, Boyer started his season with a single to left and moved to second when Justin Augustus walked.

Offensively, Boyer finished the game 4-for-5 with three runs scored. When the senior right-hander took to the mound, he was perfect through 3 2/3 innings until surrendering a triple to right-center field to Cole Hausman. He worked out of the inning with a strikeout, stranding Hausman at third.

In a 4-1 loss to Freedom the following day, Boyer added two singles in four at-bats to his numbers.

“I love to pitch, but I love to hit, too. I love both sides of the game, so it’s hard to say which I prefer doing,” said Boyer. “It was a good way to get the season started and help get us the win.”

Northwestern Lehigh opened the scoring against Northern Lehigh in the top of the second. After a leadoff single and a stolen base from Tanner Romig, Bulldogs starter Josh Kisler recorded his third strikeout of the game and then got Wes George to fly to right, which allowed Romig to move over to third with two outs.

Eli Zimmerman walked before Dylan Witkowski legged out an infield single to put the Tigers up 1-0.

Kisler got in trouble immediately in the third on back-to-back doubles by Boyer and Augustus to open the inning. Augustus stole third and then scored on a ground ball by Romig making it 3-0. Northwestern stole eight bases in nine tries in the game with both Shaun O’Donnell and Bob Croneberger picking up two thefts each.

“We take whatever the other team gives us, so whatever that might be during a given game, whether it’s bunting or running,” Cooperman said. ”We practice those things, but it doesn’t mean that we have to rely on them.”

Boyer was breezing along until allowing a two-out walk to Jack Tosh in the fifth. A base-hit and a throwing error allowed Tosh to score the lone run of the day for Northern Lehigh.

With the Tigers up 4-1 through five innings, the game broke open in the top of the sixth.

Chase Moyer drew a leadoff walk and Boyer singled for his fourth hit of the day. Cooperman called for a double steal, and it worked flawlessly to move runners to second and third with one out.

Croneberger walked to jam the bases and Romig’s single through the infield drove in two before a walk to O’Donnell reloaded the bases. Pinch-hitter Josh Lichman also worked a walk to force another run across and make it 7-1. Zimmerman added an RBI single for his first hit of the season and Witkowski brought a run home on a fielder’s choice to make it 9-1. Moyer’s second at-bat of the inning was a single to right and a fielding error allowed two more runs to score.

Boyer credited a tweak in his mechanics that allows him to get a longer stride, which gives his pitches late movement.

“My sinker was working very well and when I needed an off-speed pitch late in the at bat, my curve was good for me,” said Boyer of his success. “I was happy with my stuff today.”

Romig finished the day 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two driven in for Northwestern Lehigh. Moyer, O’Donnell, and Zimmerman all reached base three times in the game.

Against Liberty, Witkowski collected three hits and is now 4-for-9 (.444) in the early going out of the Tigers leadoff spot. On the mound, the senior went 4 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks. O’Donnell was victimized for two unearned runs while Romig threw 2/3 of an inning and George threw a shutout top of the seventh.

Northwestern Lehigh has drawn 12 walks and struck out 10 times in its two opening games. Eight of the walks came in the win over Northern Lehigh.

“We have some patient hitters, a little too patient sometimes,” said Cooperman. “At times I would like to see them be a little more aggressive early in the count and drive a fastball.”