Northwestern Lehigh’s offense has had its share of ups and downs this season. One of the issues has been finding a big hit when they needed it most.

Friday afternoon the Tigers found the big hit they needed twice in one inning, and it led to a five-run inning and a 7-3 Colonial League win over Palmerton.

Freshman catcher Evan Fatzinger came up with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning and hit a hard ground ball through the right side of the infield. The hit brought home Jake Carson and Devin Rex. One out later, Cannon Fitch came up with runners on second and third and he lined a two-run single to left that put Northwestern up 7-3.

“He threw a pitch right where I wanted it, middle and a little in, and I pulled a nice line drive right in the gap there,” said Fitzpatrick of his go-ahead single. “It was just what we needed.”

Jesse Neupauer started the game on the mound for the Tigers and had no problem with two-thirds of the Palmerton lineup. The problem came against the first three hitters in the order who went 4-for-8 against Neupauer. In the first inning, the Blue Bombers put up a run without hitting a ball out of the infield.

Jason Carrelli led off with a bunt single, and an infield ground ball put two runners on base. An attempted sacrifice bunt turned into a single that loaded the bases. Pitcher Brady Reph, hitting fourth, grounded out to third but Carrelli scored on the play.

Neupauer responded, and with one out, struck out the next two hitters. He also struck out the side in the second.

Northwestern tied the game in the bottom of the second with an unearned run and then added another unearned run in the third when Cole Dynda drove home Fitch for a 2-1 lead.

The top of the Palmerton lineup came around again in the fifth as a hit by pitch, a single, and a wild pitch put runners on second and third. Cameron Pengelly then followed with a ground ball through the middle to drive in two more runs that put the Bombers on top 3-2.

“Early in the game I was just trying to find the spots to hit,” said Neupauer of the first inning. “I like to work to certain spots and see what the umpire is calling. I always prefer to work outside when I can.

“I have to give a shout out to Devin (Rex). He was really strong on third base and made a lot of plays out there. I know that if I throw it and hit my spots, even if they hit the ball, then obviously my defense will help and pick me up.”

Dynda moved from shortstop to the mound in the top of the sixth and put Palmerton down in order. After the Tigers took the lead in the bottom of the inning, Dynda returned for the seventh and struggled slightly with his command, issuing two walks and hitting a batter, but he was able to work out of the bases loaded jam with a ground ball to third that ended the game.

“We’ve had opportunities out there in games, but the difference today was we got two hits in two big spots. In a lot of other games those were spots where we were making outs,” said Northwestern head coach Brian Polaha.

“Those hits were huge. Things like that are the difference between scoring two or three runs in a game and scoring six or seven.”

“It’s kind of been the theme for us where one inning kind of does us in. It was a tough one today,” said Palmerton mentor Tyler Svetik. “I thought we played fairly well, but we had some mistakes — we made mistakes on the bases, we made mistakes in the field, and any mistake hurts us because we’re not scoring a lot of runs.”

WHO’S THAT GUY? ... Freshman Tanner Fronina came up to pinch-hit for Northwestern in the bottom of the seventh with runners on second and third. The only problem was that nobody told the umpires or the Palmerton dugout. After one pitch, Svetik asked the home plate umpire about the move and after the two umpires conferred, they ruled that NW had batted out of order and Fronina was called out.

Palmerton 100 020 0 - 3 6 4

Northwestern 011 005 x - 7 6 1

Reph, George (4) and Ahner; Neupauer, Dynda (6) and Fitzpatrick.

Records: Palmerton (7-7; 6-6); Northwestern (9-4; 8-4).