While the weather has not exactly been hot, it has warmed considerably.

On the baseball field, Northwestern played a pair of games where the bats were certainly warmed up as the Tigers won a pair of high scoring games by scoring 27 combined runs. Stuck between the two slugfests was a loss that snapped a six-game winning streak for the Tigers.

The Tigers and Kutztown combined for 25 hits and 23 runs as Northwestern earned a 13-10 win in the nonleague game.

Cannon Fitch was on base four times with a double, two singles and a walk as he drove in three runs and scored three in the win. Cole Dynda had a double, two singles, a walk and two RBI to go with a run scored. Senior Nolan Fitzgerald had two singles and scored a run for the Tigers, who collected 14 hits and drew eight walks. They also used six Kutztown errors to score three unearned runs.

Against Pen Argyl, the Tigers took a 4-0 lead before the Green Knights tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning and then walked off with the win in the bottom of the seventh.

This time around, the Northwestern offense collected just three hits but continued to show discipline at the plate with nine walks in the game. Josh Farber, Watson Church, and Fitzgerald all had hits with Farber getting a double for the team’s only extra base hit.

Aidan Freeman allowed four hits and struck out 10 batters in his six innings for the Tigers.

The next slugfest came on Tuesday as Northwestern held off a late rally from Jim Thorpe for a 14-13 win. The Tigers were down 7-2 going into the bottom of the second inning. A sacrifice fly by Eli Zimmerman and a three-run home run from Watson Church made it 7-6.

The Olympians added four runs in the top of the third for a 11-6 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth Zimmerman was hit by a pitch and Fitch followed with a walk. One out later, Church walked to load the bases and Jake Carson brought in one run with a fielder’s choice. Brady Krimmel, who came on as a courtesy runner for Carson, scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-9.

The final offensive outburst for Northwestern came in the bottom of the sixth.

An error, a walk, and a single loaded the bases with nobody out and one out later, Fitch walked to force across a run. Dynda singled to score one run and an error on the play allowed two more runs to score as the Tigers took their first lead of the game at 13-11. Later in the inning, another error made it 14-11.

A two-out single and a bases-loaded walk made it 14-13 in the seventh, but the Tigers got the final out to end the game.

A much-anticipated showdown with Lehighton takes place Thursday on the road for Northwestern, but the game has lost a little of it’s shine with the Indians dropping three of their last four and four of their last six games.

Northwestern (11-2 Colonial, 13-2 overall) holds a 1 1/2 game lead over Lehighton (9-3, 9-4) in the West Division of the Colonial League. The Tigers also hold a ½ game lead over Saucon Valley (10-2, 10-2) for the top overall spot in the league rankings, which determine seeding for the league playoffs. If the two teams end in a tie, the Panthers would get the top spot thanks to a win over the Tigers earlier in the year.