To put it simply, Saturday was not a great day to be playing baseball.

At Northwestern Lehigh High School, even nice days can be made tough by the wind whipping across the field, and the day’s low temperatures made it tough for even the hardiest baseball fans and players.

As Northwestern coach Brian Polaha said though: “It affects both teams.”

One person who didn’t seem to be affected too much was Jesse Neupauer. The sophomore got the start for the Tigers and limited Catasauqua to just one hit over seven innings as Northwestern picked up an 8-0 win in a Colonial League matchup.

“Yeah, it was very cold,” admitted Neupauer. “It really wasn’t my best, but I tried my hardest. I got a lot of offense today and they really helped me out.”

The Rough Riders didn’t get their first hit until there was one out in the top of the fifth inning. Steel Martell lined a ball through the left side of the infield for what would be the only offense generated by the visitors.

The single didn’t lead to any threat though.

The offense that Neupauer talked about went to work in the first inning.

Cannon Fitch and Lucian Sterling both got on base to start the inning, and Cole Dynda drove a ball to deep left field for a triple and a quick Northwestern lead. Dynda then scored on an error, and Evan Fatzinger delivered a single to right to put runners on first and third.

Polaha then went to one of the oldest tricks in the book. Fatzinger took off for second and when the throw went through Devin Rex, who had reached on the error, came in with a run to make it 4-0 in favor of Northwestern.

“We can be hit-and-miss sometimes offensively,” noted Polaha. “We’re very young as far as position players go, but we’re coming along. And our pitching has been good, we saw that today, and our defense today was very good; we made a lot of nice plays on ground balls and got to all of the fly balls, which was tough in this wind.

“Neupauer was really good today and then with Dynda, those two will keep us in games. As long as they limit walks and we stay away from errors, we should be okay. The key is getting those timely hits like we got today.”

The Tigers picked up a few hits here and there, but were unable to score again until the bottom of the fifth.

With the top of the order due up, Fitch and Sterling each singled and Dynda was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Rex then broke the game open with a hard line drive to right that emptied the bases as he went into second base having put his team up 7-0.

The top part of the order struck again an inning later when Sterling singled and Dynda doubled to make it 8-0. Dynda drove in three runs, while Rex drove in four.

Meanwhile, Neupauer kept going about his business as he continued to frustrate the Catasauqua hitters.

With a runner on and one out in the top of the seventh, Dynda moved toward second to field a groundball and stepped on the bag before throwing to first to end the game on a double play, the second of the game for the Tigers.

“I didn’t even think about the no-hitter until my teammates brought it up,” said Neupauer. “I just stayed focused on getting outs and getting through each inning. My only thought was keeping my hand warm.”

THE FAB FOUR ... The first four hitters in the order have been pounding opposing hitters. Fitch (.385), Sterling (.412), Dynda (.333) and Rex (.400) are hitting a combined .386 (22-for-57) with a home run, 14 RBIs, and 23 runs scored through five games. Dynda is 4-for-12 with all four hits — two doubles, a triple, and a home run — being for extra bases. Fitch and Sterling have both scored eight runs.

UP ON THE HILL ... The guys on the mound have been fabulous. As a team, the Tigers have a 1.06 ERA. Neupauer and Dynda have combined to throw 19 innings without allowing an earned run, allowing just seven hits and walking four batters while striking out 28.

Catasauqua 000 000 0 - 0 1 2

N’western 400 031 x - 8 9 0

Lopez, Collazo (2), Savercool (3) and Martell; Neupauer and Fatzinger. W - Neupauer. L - Lopez.