The Lehigh-Bethlehem squad is officially a force in Lehigh Valley Connie Mack baseball.

Next, they want to carry that over into the state playoffs.

After winning their first Lehigh Valley title in 2011, and taking second last year, the team is once again in a good spot to clinch a top-two seed in the standings, a chance to play for another Lehigh Valley title, as well as an automatic berth in state play.

"From the beginning of the season, our goal was to make it to states," said head coach Keith Lehman. "That's been our goal, and they've proven to themselves and the other teams in the league they are viciously getting there."

Heading into this week, Lehigh Bethlehem was 14-2 and at the top of the Lehigh Valley standings. Despite coming off a 4-3 loss against Catasauqua Friday, the team rebounded to pound West Allentown 18-4 on Saturday. Their final game was scheduled for Monday night against North Parkland and a win would clinch them a top-two spot. Nazareth and Stroudsburg were the only other teams with three losses and still had several more games to play on the season. Through this past weekend, Lehigh-Bethlehem was tied for the most games played to this point (16), while some teams only had as little as 11 games completed. The regular season is over July 3.

Lehigh-Bethlehem is led by returning players Drew Appleman, Sean Kelly, Mike Lancaster, Mike Lehman, Jordan Santee and John Sawyer, who were part of last year's team that lost to Lower Mac in the Lehigh Valley finals. Hungry to avenge that loss, the squad finds itself in a nice spot heading down the home stretch of their regular season.

"We're in a great position," said Lehman. "We are solid from top to bottom. The returning players have been doing a fantastic job and the new players have really added depth to our team."

Lehman said he's using a five-man starting pitching staff with Mike John, Mike Krawchuck, Jim Downey, Santee and Nick Caricari. Relief pitchers are Casey Clearie, Mike Lehman and Lancaster. Another key has been the play of the outfield, led by center fielder Tyler Erney, who Lehman says covers a lot of ground. Offensively, five players were hitting over .400 as of late last week. Defensively, everyone contributes.

"In the second half, we've really had no errors," Lehman said. "It doesn't matter who is out there. One-through-17 comes up with a great defensive play or a big hit when needed.

"They're a good team. They play loose. A lot of them have grown up playing together in Lehigh Little League. They are easy to coach."

Also part of the team are: Harrison Cann, Dominic Fattore, Mike Miller Connor Vanderbush and Ryan Wescoe.

Lehman also wanted to give credit to his coaches: Mike John, Ben Lehman and Gerry Cann.

Lehigh Valley playoffs start July 8 with the top-10 teams making it into the tournament. The top-two teams automatically advance to states along with the four other winners of the remaining eight teams.