First-year Northwestern baseball head coach Chad Cooperman couldn’t have scripted a better end to his team’s season than the one the Tigers achieved over the past three weeks.

An eight-game win streak capped Northwestern’s 2022 campaign at 13-7 overall and 13-5 in Colonial League play. Last week on back-to-back days the Tigers beat a pitcher that had beaten them earlier in the season and then a day later handed Southern Lehigh its second league loss of the season.

“I knew early on we were going to take a beating a little bit,” Cooperman said of his team’s 2-5 start to this season. “We have a lot of young guys. We start two freshmen, four or five sophomores, just getting that experience under their belt. The older guys have really come together, have been great leaders leading the younger core of guys. We’re playing as a team and leaving everything out on the field. Our energy has been great.”

Last Wednesday the Tigers took on Salisbury and one of the league’s top pitchers in Tim Schware, who pitched the Falcons to a victory over Northwestern on April 4.

In last week’s rematch the Tigers got revenge, knocking Schware out after four innings and five earned runs on nine hits.

Northwestern opened the scoring in the second inning when Samuel Mauro singled and scored on a passed ball. After Salisbury tied the game in the bottom of the inning, the Tigers took the lead for good in the third when Dylan Witkowski (2-for-5, 2 RBIs, 2 runs) scored on an error and Ben Boyer (3-for-4, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) crossed the plate on a passed ball for a 3-1 lead.

The Tigers took a commanding lead with a six-run fourth inning. A Salisbury error and singles by Justin Augustus and Robert Croneberger (3-for-5, 2 runs) loaded the bases with no outs. Witkowski knocked in a run with a fielder’s choice and two more scored on a Boyer single. Boyer eventually scored on a fielder’s choice and two more runs came in on a Sean O’Donnell (2-for-4, 2 RBIs) double for a 9-1 lead after four innings.

“Schware pitched against us the last time too and they beat us 6-1,” said Cooperman. “They jumped on us early in that game. Today was a great bounce-back win for our guys. They came out swinging the sticks pretty good. We manufactured some runs early and then we started to hit the ball really well. Tanner Romig was great on the mound as well and we played pretty clean defense.”

Romig, who went 2-for-3 in the game, pitched five innings and allowed one run on five hits while striking out four and walking one. Despite a couple errors late in the game, the Tigers played solid defense behind Romig.

“I could locate my curveball early on. It was getting really nice break,” Romig said. “I think we have the best defense in the league. It really takes the stress off.”

Romig, a senior and second-year varsity starter, is one of several pitchers that have been giving Cooperman solid outings behind Boyer, the team’s No. 1 starter, who is 7-1 with more than 50 innings pitched this year.

“After Boyer we have a crew of 5-6 really quality arms and they all have between 10-15 innings and they all do their job when they’re asked to,” said Cooperman. “They’ve been really good for us.”

Wesley George and O’Donnell each pitched an inning to close out the win over Salisbury last week.

The Tigers tacked on a run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly and three in the seventh. Croneberger doubled to lead off the seventh and scored on a Boyer sacrifice fly. Witkowski singled and scored on Morgan Labuda’s single. Josh Lichman capped the scoring as the Falcons walked in the game’s final run.

“The goal is always to be peaking in May,” said Cooperman. “After today they convinced me that we’re getting close.”

A 7-5 win over Southern Lehigh is more evidence that the Tigers are playing their best at the right time. It was just the Spartans’ third loss of the season and second in league play. The Tigers capped the season with an 18-3 win over Catasauqua.

Northwestern enters league playoffs Friday with a quarterfinal game against Palisades. The winner will face either Southern Lehigh or Saucon Valley in the semifinals. The Spartans and Panthers earned byes in the quarterfinal round.