The Northwestern Lehigh baseball team reached the Colonial League playoffs as the No. 5 seed.

The Tigers, which ended their season on an eight-game win streak, kept it going with a win in the quarterfinal round before falling in the semifinals.

Here’s a look at both of Northwestern’s league playoff games.

CL Semifinal

Tuesday, May 17

N’western-So. Lehigh

Pitching and defense.

That combination wins a lot of baseball games.

It did for Southern Lehigh in Tuesday’s Colonial League semifinal playoff game against Northwestern.

The Spartans’ Luke Lea scattered seven hits, while his fielders behind him made a number of big plays during a 7-0 victory that ended the Tigers’ winning streak at nine games and prevented them from playing for a league championship.

“Honestly, that’s the first time we’ve put those two things together in a long time,” said Southern Lehigh head coach Todd Miller, whose team will now face Notre Dame in Thursday’s title game. “So, I feel pretty good about that. Defensively, they hit the ball really hard but we made a lot of plays. Hats off to our defense. I’m sure they felt a little bit snake bitten for as many balls as they hit hard.

“Efficient is a good word (to explain Luke’s outing). He’s kept us in games all year, so we kind of expect him to come out there (and pitch well). We didn’t expect him to only throw that number of pitches. He was ahead, and he kept the ball down in the zone.”

Lea pitched to contact, striking out only four batters. He threw just 79 pitches - 56 for strikes - and registered a first-pitch strike to 20 of the 29 batters he faced in holding down a potent Northwestern lineup.

“He was super efficient today,” said Tiger mentor Chad Cooperman. “I think we hit the ball pretty well, just right at guys. Luke Lea did a real good job of getting the first batter of every inning out, and it becomes very hard to score in high school when the first out is made.

“They scored four runs in the first inning without a hit, and it’s always tough to come back from that when you’re in that hole. You’re really limited what you can do offensively. It’s tough to bunt and run, and be really dynamic on offense in that regard when you’re playing from behind.”

As Cooperman said, his team trailed early as his pitching and defense struggled in the opening frame.

After Northwestern went down in order to start the game, Southern Lehigh (18-3) used a hit batter and two walks to load the bases in the bottom half. A force out at second plated the game’s first run, while an error on a fly ball to right with two outs allowed three runs to race home to make it 4-0.

The Tigers’ Shaun O’Donnell relieved and finished the first. The left-hander then tossed three scoreless innings to keep his team in the game.

“O’Donnell was great,” said Cooperman. “He stepped up in a big spot and really kept us close and gave us a shot to come back and grab some momentum. He definitely excelled in his role today.”

Unfortunately for Northwestern, that momentum-building hit never came. And the Spartans had something to say about that.

Joshua Lichman collected the Tigers’ first hit in the second inning, but Solehi turned a double play to quickly erase the runner. In the fourth, Northwestern had runners on first and third with two outs, but a diving play by Spartan second baseman Janssen Brown robbed O’Donnell from a hit and an RBI. Later, O’Donnell was again deprived of a hit and an RBI when center fielder Michael Andrews snared a sinking line drive.

“I trust the people behind me,” said Lea. “We have a great outfield and the infielders all can make plays, so I just know that if I keep the ball around the strike zone, we have a good chance of winning.”

“High school baseball is all about momentum and they got it early,” said Cooperman. “We were a big hit away ... when we had runners on with two outs to get into it. They just had momentum the whole game, and if you don’t grab it back in high school sports, it’s really difficult to win the game.”

The Spartans made it even more difficult for the Tigers (14-8) to rally when they tacked on three more runs in the fifth. Will Woodring and Lea both had run-scoring doubles, while Landon Bealer contributed an RBI single.

“Now, it’s all about how we respond and get ready for the district tournament,” said Cooperman. “We’ll see who we get, and we just need to come out and play quality Tiger baseball, and whatever happens, happens.”

Ben Boyer and Lichman both had two hits for Northwestern, with Lichman’s one hit a double. The other three hits came from Justin Augustus, O’Donnell and Nicholas Scott.

The Tigers were trying to defeat Southern Lehigh for a third time, having posted 7-4 and 7-5 wins during the regular season. The only other loss by the Spartans this season came against Pottsville.

Lea walked just one batter and went to three balls on a batter just twice. Of the 29 plate appearances, 15 of them ended with two pitches or less.

CL Quarterfinal

Friday, May 13

Northwestern-Palisades

Northwestern continued its blistering play last Friday in the opening round of the Colonial League playoffs, defeating Palisades 11-8 to win its ninth straight and advance to the semifinals.

“We’re just playing together. We’re playing really good team baseball,” said Cooperman. “We’ve been able to pair timely hitting and good pitching, which has really improved and has been big for us.

“We came into the season with not a lot of pitchers who had significant varsity innings under their belts, but they’ve been gaining more confidence. We’ve just been playing good baseball during this stretch. These guys play for each other.”

Northwestern got its offense going early in this one, holding a 4-1 lead after the top of the third.

Hitting has been the key to the Tigers streak and Ben Boyer was not only the offensive catalyst early, but throughout the game for Northwestern.

Boyer came through with two hits and two RBIs through three innings with Josh Lichman and Shaun O’Donnell also adding RBIs during that stretch.

“There were a lot of times throughout our streak, and tonight as well, where we’ve been able to come through with big hits in the gaps with two outs,” said Cooperman. “It’s really been a difference maker for us. And tonight we also had Ben step up and have a big night. He delivered in big moments.”

However, Palisades found itself down by multiple runs a few times in the game but it did not go away quietly.

The Pirates battled back to tie the game at 4-4 after the bottom of the third and actually fought to take the lead after the fifth.

Boyle knocked in two more runs with a double in the fourth, but Palisades kept pressure on to take a one-run lead (7-6) heading into the top of the sixth.

“We’ve fought through a lot of adversity during this win streak to get to where we are. We played two 12-inning games just last week and our guys never backed down,” said Cooperman. “We got punched in the mouth tonight, but our guys responded and as a coach you’re always proud of that.”

Boyer once again came through for the Tigers in the sixth with a two-run single to put Northwestern back on top by a run.

The Tigers would then hold the Pirates scoreless in the bottom of the sixth to thwart the Palisades momentum, and gave themselves some insurance - adding three more runs in the seventh, including two more RBIs from Boyer to put the game away.

Boyer finished the contest going 5-for-5 with eight RBIs. Justin Augustus also had a nice day at the plate, coming through with three hits.

The Tigers started the season 5-7. They are now 14-7 and have not lost a game since April 22.

Northwestern advances to the Colonial League semifinals and will face off with No. 1 seed Southern Lehigh at 4 p.m. on Monday at Lehigh Carbon Community College. The Tigers swept the Spartans during the regular season, posting a 7-4 victory on April 23 and a 7-5 decision on May 5.

N’western 000 000 0 - 0 7 2

So. Lehigh 400 030 x - 7 7 1

George, O’Donnell (1), Boyer (5) and Augustus; Lea and Woodring. W - Lea. L - George.

N’western 202 202 3 - 11 15 1

Palisades 103 120 1 - 8 11 3

Boyer, Moyer (4), Lichman (4) and Augustus; Newton, Wallbillich and Harrar. W - Lichman. L - Wallbillich.