The last team Keith Lehman and his Lehigh Bethlehem likely expected to see in the opening round of the Lehigh Valley Connie Mack playoffs was Bangor.

On the last day of the regular season last Saturday morning, Lehigh Bethlehem won a two-hour, 45-minute, eight-inning, 13-10 slugfest to cap a season-ending, five-game winning streak.

When the playoff brackets were announced Monday, fourth-seeded Lehigh Bethlehem found itself ready to open a best-of-three series against ninth-seeded Bangor. The two teams were slated to open play Monday night, but they were rescheduled to Tuesday due to rain.

If rain should cancel Tuesday's game and if the fields need an extra day to drain, Lehman stated the teams have agreed to play Thursday with a double-header Friday. Play must be completed by Saturday morning.

"It was really ironic to play against them," said Lehman. "That was the only time we faced them and we had a real battle on our hands on the final day of the season. They (Bangor) are a good team and we expect to have a good series of them."

Lehigh Bethlehem is optimistic they can regain some of the early momentum that carried them to a quick 8-0 start to begin the season. However, they hit a tailspin in the middle of the season and needed a five-game undefeated stretch to end the season with an overall 14-5 mark.

"We had a great start," said Lehman. "After that, we played some pretty good teams and we lost a couple of guys. We also hit some rough spots along the way. But these kids pulled it together at the right time and we were able to get to the playoffs."

Lehman cited the contributions of his five-man starting staff of Casey Cleary, Owen Hawk, Mike Lancaster, Mike Lehman, and Vinny Marfisi. Mike Curti was the team's closer.

Offensively, Lehman cited a true team effort as four players hit over. 350. The team also compiled an on-base percentage of .427. He is confident his club can continue its steady offensive and pitching outputs in the postseason.

"We really had a different guy or two step up for us offensively every night," said Lehman. "It was a solid line up from the top to the bottom. I really can't cite one or two guys. We also used a DH to get an extra bat in the lineup and that helped.

"We rallied when we needed to during the season, and now we have to keep it going."