“Embrace the target.”

It’s the motto manager Joe Maddon has for the 2016 World Series favorite Chicago Cubs. Maddon doesn’t want his team to ignore or deny all the talk of his team being favorites to win it all. He wants his players to relish the opportunity and welcome the pressure that comes with such expectations.

The same axiom holds true for this season’s Northwestern Lehigh squad.

After qualifying for the District 11 Class AAA playoffs and advancing to the Colonial League championship game in 2015, the Tigers entered the year with high hopes thanks to a wealth of returning talent.

Following an 11-1 win over Northern Lehigh on Monday, Northwestern appears to be on track to accomplish its postseason goals.

“I sort of fired them up before the game, to let them know that we need to keep the pedal to the metal here and we need to keep winning,” said Tigers’ mentor Duran Porrino. “Our goal is to get a first-round bye in the league playoffs, and winning the division doesn’t do that for you because they re-seed.

“With Notre Dame Green Pond having only three losses (in the league) and us at two losses, realistically, we need to try to win out. That’s our goal and I told the kids that we need to come out here firing because our goal is to win out and so far we’ve held true to that.”

The victory was the fourth straight for Northwestern (14-3, 12-2) since a 5-4 loss to the Crusaders on April 8.

Despite facing a Northern Lehigh (3-14, 1-13) team that is going the opposite direction, with Monday’s setback being the eighth straight loss for the Bulldogs, Porrino made sure the Tigers weren’t overlooking what could have been a trap game.

“I reminded them that two years ago we played them (Northern Lehigh) here and they beat us and that loss kept us out of the league playoffs,” Porrino said. “So I reminded them of that today before the game and just told them that we can’t sleep on this game; we did that two years ago and got beat.

“So they knew that and had the right approach and came out with the right approach.”

The Tigers pounced early and led 5-1 after the second inning before scoring three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to put the game away.

“I have to give coach Porrino a pat on the back,” Northern Lehigh head coach Greg King said. “He really has his kids playing well. They hit the ball very well; they’re aggressive on the bases; and they play good defense.”

Leadoff hitter Jake Augustus was the catalyst, ripping the second pitch of the afternoon for a single and finishing with three hits and four runs scored. Tyler Schreiner collected two hits – including an RBI triple to score Augustus for the first run of the game – and also scored three runs, while Brady Mengel had a sacrifice fly, a walk, an RBI triple and scored two runs.

Getting that kind of production from the top of the lineup is something Porrino has been able to rely on all season.

“You have three guys there at the top of the order that are all college-bound baseball players,” Porrino said. “So you expect them to get on base and you expect them to score runs, and they do.

“That’s something we emphasize, getting those guys on base. We go over the statistics and they know who has the most runs on the team and stuff like that. But they know the importance of it.”

Though Northwestern currently sits atop the District 11 Class AAA power rankings and looks primed to be a force once the postseason begins, the Tigers lack championship experience.

But Porrino, who replaced Len Smith as the head coach of the baseball team this spring, has been able to rely on his experience as the quarterbacks coach during Northwestern’s District 11 championship season in 2014.

“Me and Josh (Snyder, head football coach) are real good friends, even outside of school, and we teach right across the hall from each other in the high school,” Porrino said. “So it’s good, because sometimes I need to get his perspective on things, and he does a great job.

“With him being a young coach and taking over for coach (Tom) Linette and (Bob) Mitchell, it’s the same situation. He took over for two guys who had been in the program forever, so I rely on him a lot. And going into this year, I told myself that I want us to have high expectations and we’re going to embrace it and that’s going to be our attitude.”