Cole Hubert may be a very nice kid, but high school hitters around the area simply don’t like him. At least they don’t like to face him on a baseball field when he is throwing 90 mile per hour fastballs with good movement. The kind that got him a scholarship to Texas A&M University.

As a pitcher, he has been downright nasty to Northwestern Lehigh hitters, having thrown shutouts against Northwestern the last two times he faced them. In last year’s district quarterfinals, the Saucon Valley left-hander allowed just two hits and during the regular season this year, he allowed just one hit.

As luck – or misfortune – would have it, the Tigers had to face Hubert again in this year’s district semifinals, but they turned it into a going away party that Hubert didn’t enjoy as the Northwestern beat Saucon Valley 2-0 at Parkland High School on Sunday to advance to the district finals.

A key was getting to Hubert early.

Hubert had not pitched since throwing a no-hitter against Pen Argyl on May 10 in the first round of the Colonial League playoffs. With a little rust having accumulated, Hubert walked leadoff hitter Eli Zimmerman to open the bottom of the first.

Zimmerman stole second and Cannon Fitch, who had the only hit against Hubert earlier in the season, hit a line drive to right that scored Zimmerman. The throw home was wild, and Fitch alertly went to second on the throw. The rust continued to bother Hubert, who threw two wild pitches that brought Fitch home with the second run of the inning for the Tigers.

“He’s a great pitcher, obviously,” said Fitch of Hubert. “I just try to get my toe down early to attack the fastball and it helped.”

Thanks to the pitching of Aidan Freeman, the two runs were all Northwestern (19-5) needed.

Freeman threw just 86 pitches and allowed four hits and two walks while striking out six batters to get the win. At one point, Freeman recorded 11 straight outs.

Northwestern hitters showed discipline at the plate and forced Hubert to throw 110 pitches in six innings. Hubert struck out 12 hitters, including his first eight outs on strikeouts.

“I knew I just had to throw strikes, stick to the game plan, and pitch the best that I could and try to outduel him,” said Freeman. “My two-seamer worked for me today, I was able to get inside on the lefties and outside on the righties and got them out in front and chasing a little bit.”

Hubert retired 13 of the last 14 hitters he faced, but Northwestern was still able to threaten in the fifth inning. Shane Hulmes led off with a walk to snap a streak of seven straight retired by Hubert and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brady Zimmerman.

Eli Zimmerman grounded a ball to third and third baseman Chase Luckenbach elected to get the out at first rather than try to get Hulmes, who had wandered off second. As Luckenbach released the throw, Hulmes moved to third while the second out was recorded at first. Hubert got a pop-up to end the inning and keep the game 2-0.

Freeman allowed just two runners to reach scoring position, and both got there with two outs in the inning.

Andrew Gilbert delivered a two-out double in the first inning and Noah Hubert then walked, but Freeman struck out Carter Bidwell to keep the Panthers (15-7) off the board. In the fifth, Freeman issued a one-out walk to Zak Ziegler and one out later, Frank DiRusso singled to put runners on first and second with two outs, before a fielder’s choice ended the inning.

The Tigers have had some ups and downs throughout the season but have played well down the stretch and in the postseason to play for a district championship.

“We always stayed focused,” said Fitch. “Early in the season we were hitting really well and then we struggled a little bit, but recently we have had some life in our bats and we hope to keep hitting and improving.”

Freeman was helped by timely fielding behind him.

Second baseman Josh Farber turned in the defensive play of the game for the Tigers when he ranged into the outfield grass and made an acrobatic catch on a short fly ball by DiRusso to start the third inning.

“Errors were going to kill us today, so we talked a lot about that,” said coach Brian Polaha. “Cole Dynda made a nice play at short and that pop-up that Farber caught was a good play, and we needed that today.”

Northwestern advanced to face an unfamiliar foe in the Tamaqua Blue Raiders (14-1) for the district championship.

The Raiders won the Schuylkill League, which automatically gave them the top seed in 4A and left Northwestern as the second seed.

The title game was scheduled for Wednesday, after Press deadlines.