Northwestern blanks Bulldogs in baseball

For the second time in four games, Northwestern pushed double-digit runs across the plate, beating Northern Lehigh 13-0 in a Colonial League game on Saturday.

The Tigers (3-1) went to work early in the game and took advantage of defensive miscues from the Bulldogs (1-3, 1-4) to get the win.

The first four hitters, and seven of the first eight, reached base for Northwestern in the bottom of the first. Leadoff hitter Jacob Haas reached on a fielding error and then stole second in front of a walk to Nathan Goodolf. Back-to-back singles from Trevor Schreiner and Tyler Wiik pushed across two runs, and a groundout by Derek Holmes put the Tigers up 3-0. Three more hits pushed across three more runs as Northwestern sent 11 batters to the plate in the first and took a 6-0 lead.

Two more Bulldog errors in the second opened the door for three more runs to score and chased starter Brandon Hess from the game.

“Defensively we didn’t play too well today, but we had played better in previous games,” said coach Greg King. “You have to give Northwestern credit though because they hit the ball hard and they hit it where we weren’t, so you have to credit them.”

Zachary Long came on in relief and stranded a runner at second before getting the final two outs of the inning, but ran into trouble in the third when Haas led off with a triple to right-center field and scored two batters later on Schreiner’s ground ball. Wiik, Holmes and Nic Henry also knocked in runs during the four-run inning.

“I was feeling pretty confident for my first varsity at-bats, and I was just looking to drive the ball hard, and that’s what I did,” said Henry, a freshman who collected three hits on the day and drove in four runs.

“We have the mindset that if you’re going to keep a freshman up, you’ve got to give them a chance to play,” said Northwestern coach Duran Porrino. “Today it worked out that we had an opportunity to get him in the lineup, and he produced.”

Vince Castrine started for Northwestern and allowed two hits over three innings while striking out two batters. Colin DeLong and Holmes each pitched a scoreless inning for Northwestern in relief of Castrine.

The Tigers outhit Northern Lehigh 16-4 in the game.

“Our weakness has been offense and trying to generate runs, and that was evident again today. We hit the ball hard at times, but it was right at them, so it was just one of those days.”

EVERYBODY HITS ... Eight of the nine starting players for Northwestern collected at least one hit in the game. In their four games this season, the Tigers are averaging just under nine runs a game.

FAST STARTS ... Having a big varsity debut is nothing new for Henry. In his first varsity start as a running back this past football season, Henry rushed for 100 yards against Southern Lehigh, as the Tigers nearly upset the Spartans.

MERCY ... After going 1-1 and allowing just five runs in their first two league games, the Bulldogs have lost two straight by a combined score of 37-1. Northern Lehigh lost at home to Catasauqua 24-1 the day before falling to Northwestern 13-0.

Northern Lehigh 000 00 - 0 4 6

Northwestern 634 0x - 13 16 0

Hess, Long (2), Lorrah (3) and Rudolph; Castrine, DeLong (4), Holmes (5) and Wiik. W - Castrine. L - Hess.