While Northern's margin for error dissolved under the weight of a four-game losing skid, the Polar Bears essentially started from scratch Friday afternoon in Enola.
And the results were positive. Anthony Salomone stretched into the seventh and carded one of three 3-for-4 performances by the Polar Bears as the newest Mid-Penn Capital entry popped East Pennsboro 8-4 at John Gross Field.
All three of Salomone's hits went for extra-bases, part of a 12-hit Northern attack that also featured lead-off hitter Zach Zinn (3-for-4) and eight-hole hitter Jared Rahn (3-for-4).
Fueled by five runs in the first two innings, the Polar Bears ended their skid and kept its District 3 Tournament hopes alive.
“You know in our last five games we didn't have back-to-back hits. It's not like we've been completely shut down, but we haven't been able to string the hits together,” said Northern coach Brian Robison, his Bears (9-8, 7-5) well outside of qualifying for the D3-AAA field at the moment.
“We've been shuffling our line-up around the last couple of week, just trying to find the right combination. We're not even thinking about districts for anything. We just want to come out and play well.”
Robison got his wish as Salomone's two-run triple and RBI single from catcher Nate Deardorf punched the Polar Bears ahead 3-0 in the first. Salomone, who also collected five of his 10 strikeouts in the first two innings, even chipped in a two-run triple in the second, extending the lead.
Northern added a single run in the third off Panthers reliever Grayson Miller as Zinn plated Rahn with a bloop single to right.
“When you're not hitting, it's tough. It takes away a lot of different things,” East Pennsboro coach John Frantz said. The Panthers (7-10, 6-6) stranded seven on base in the final four innings. Only Dylan Quigley's fourth-inning single to score Jake Nieto gave East Pennsboro some hope until the seventh.
“We played four games in four days, so we can't even get any extra batting practice in or set up the pitching machine. We need something good to happen for us next week.”
After Ryan Schreiber's two-run single widened Northern's lead to 8-1 in the seventh, the Panthers finally belted three straight hits against Salomone. Reliever Dillon Heatwole would allow a Dakota Pentz RBI single and Dylan Quigley sac fly – both runs were charged to Salomone – before inducing a game-ending fly out.
Caleb Jackson, Pentz and Cole Sheely all cracked two hits for East Pennsboro.
“Today is the first day in probably a couple of week that we got the offense and defense we needed,” Robison said. “And certainly Anthony had a very good game locating pitches and working ahead.”
Epler on Twitter: @threejacker