Tigers to face Valley View in state playoffs

Northwestern faces Valley View in the PIAA Class 4A state semifinals on Monday.

Below is a capsule of the upcoming game.

CLASS 4A STATE SEMIFINALS

Northwestern (19-7) vs. Valley View (15-5)

WHEN — Monday, June 11 at Central Columbia, 4 p.m.

COACHES — Northwestern: Doran Porrino; Valley View: Jason Munley.

LEADING HITTERS — Northwestern (through 26 games): Trevor Schreiner (.453), Tyler Wiik (.449), Derek Holmes (.442), Rafe Perich (.419), Jake Haas (.386), Austin Stasko (.351); Valley View (through 18 games): D. Black (.491), R. Sebastianelli (.410), C. Pezak (.383).

LEADING PITCHERS — Northwestern (through 26 games): Mason Vogwill (8-3, 57 1/3 IP, 1.95), Vinnie Castrine (4-2, 42 1/3 IP, 3.14), Drew White (5-1, 40 1/3 IP, 4.51) ; Valley View: Mason Black (6-0, 43 IP, 0.33), Zack Blockburger (2-1, 20 IP, 2.45), Dixon Black (2-1, 15 IP, 2.33).

ROAD TO STATE SEMIS — Northwestern: defeated Pottsville (9-2), Wilson (15-0) and Central Catholic (5-4) to win District 11 title; defeated Monsignor Bonner (8-0) in opening round of states and West Perry (4-1) in state quarterfinals; Valley View: defeated Berwick (6-4), and Dallas (1-0) to win District 2 title; defeated Lewisburg (4-2) in opening round of states and Berks Catholic (7-2) in state quarterfinals.

WHAT’S ON THE LINE? — The winner will advance to Thursday’s state championship game, where they will play the Meadville-Ringgold winner at 3:30 p.m. at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Penn State University Park.

GAME NOTES — Since back-to-back losses to Blue Mountain (6-5 in 11 innings on May 10) and Southern Lehigh (4-0 on May 18), Northwestern has won five straight games to reach the state semis. During their five-game win streak, the Tigers have outscored their opponents 41-7 ... Valley View has won six in a row since a 6-3 loss to Scranton Prep on May 14. The Cougars have outscored opponents 32-10 during that stretch ... Northwestern has had two games decided by one run this season. The Tigers lost both — 2-1 to Bangor on April 25, before losing the completion of a suspended game against Blue Mountain. Valley View has posted a 4-1 record in one-run games this season. The Cougars only loss in such a contest was a 4-3 setback to Wallenpaupack on May 5 ... Wiik and Perich have been extremely hot since the end of the regular season. Both have hits in all six postseason games. Wiik is 8-for-15 with three homers, four doubles, and five RBIs. He has also walked five times. Perich is 10-for-20 in his last six contests with two doubles, a homer, and six RBIs. Wiik leads the team in homers (8), walks (21), on-base percentage (.564), and slugging percentage (.884) ... Speaking of being hot, Holmes has been on fire since Apr. 30. The third baseman is 18-for-39 over that stretch (.462) with 14 RBIs. Half (five doubles, two triples, two homers) of those hits have been for extra bases. On the season, the junior has hit safely in 20 of the team’s 23 games ... Schreiner currently leads the team in batting average, hits (43), runs (38), RBIs (35), and triples (6) ... Haas had his 12-game hitting streak snapped against West Perry. The senior outfielder leads the club in stolen bases with 10 ... Northwestern owns a team batting average of .359 ... Vogwill has won his last four decisions, all of them coming in the postseason. The Tigers’ ace has pitched in five of the team’s six playoff games, allowing just 14 hits and three earned runs in 23 1/3 innings (an ERA of 0.90). He has 21 strikeouts during that time span ... Valley View ace Mason Black didn’t give up his first run of the season until the district semifinals against Berwick. The senior will be heading to Lehigh in the fall ... The Cougars’ district title was their first since 2000 ... Valley View’s opening round game in states was also played at Central Columbia ... Valley View bounced defending state champion Dallas in the District 2 Class 4A championship game. The Cougars scored a 1-0 victory to advance to the state tournament, and hand Dallas just its second loss of the season (14-2) ... Prior to this season, Northwestern’s only other state playoff victory came in 1989, a 2-0 win over Lancaster Catholic behind a shutout from Brian Green. The Tigers, who won the District 11 Class 2A title with an 8-2 win over Shenandoah Valley and were coach by Len Smith, saw their run come to an end with a 7-3 loss to Bishop Hoban in the PIAA quarterfinals.