ORWIGSBURG - Small ball is alive and well in Pottsville.

After Wednesday's District 11 4A semifinal game, Northwestern can surely attest to that.The top-seeded Crimson Tide used bunting, patient at-bats, and timely hitting to help earn a 6-1 victory and advance to the title game against Wilson.Baseball's fundamentals were never more on display than during a four-run second inning that gave Pottsville the lead for good."That inning was a back-breaker," said Tiger head coach Bob Fatzinger. "They used a lot of small ball there. We didn't make a play on the one (bunt) and the whole inning changed."Then we had one go off the pitcher's glove in the same inning. If he lets it go, you might get an out. But your instinct tells you to try and do it yourself and get an out, but that didn't happen. We had two plays there where we should have had outs. The scoreboard would have been different, I'm sure, if that had taken place ... we just didn't make the plays."Northwestern got the early jump in the top of the second when an error, ground out, and Deven Bollinger's RBI single to right gave the fourth-seeded Tigers a 1-0 advantage.That slim margin quickly evaporated, though, in the bottom half as the Tide batted around.Alex Everly singled to left, and Eli Wood followed with a bunt attempting to move his teammate up a base. Northwestern tried to erase the lead runner, but the ball was dropped. Luke Joyce laid down another bunt, this one for a perfectly-placed single up the third-base line, that loaded the bases.Collin Herndon, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, singled to center to tie the game. One batter later, Sam Siminitus made contact and sent a chopper toward Tiger pitcher Mason Vogwill. The Northwestern hurler reached for the ball, but it went off his glove for another RBI hit and a 2-1 Pottsville lead.Darion Jacoby and Eric Wapinsky both worked walks to force in two more runs for the Tide (13-9)."You work on the fundamentals," said Pottsville mentor Mike Welsh. "We got a leadoff guy on and the situation (for small ball) presented itself. We made them make a couple plays there, and it worked out in our favor. We had some good at-bats, and were able to put more on them and give us some breathing room."They're a scrappy team, and knew they'd stay on us all game, so it was nice to get four on them there."Four runs were more than enough for Gavin Hinchliffe, the Tide's starting pitcher.Hinchliffe allowed just one other hit, a sixth-inning single by Zach Stanley, in his 5 2/3 innings of work."We faced a pitcher who threw a real good game," said Fatzinger. "You have to play almost a perfect game when you face a pitcher of that caliber."We knew coming in we weren't going to score a lot of runs ... He was effectively wild. We were swinging at pitches that weren't strikes. We had to be more disciplined."Hinchliffe, who is headed to Virginia Tech for baseball, struck out eight. He also walked three and hit two batters."That's been him all year," said Welsh. "He's given us solid outings all year long. We've been able to kind of ride him. He gave us a great effort."Pottsville added two more runs in the fifth to seal the win.A squeeze bunt by Wood accounted for one run, while Herndon doubled home another."With the time off ... I really worked on my swing and my timing," said Herndon. "We like to practice small-ball bunting, having competitions between the players to work on our bunting skills, and it payed off."It payed off for the Tide and put an end to Northwestern's season."We're young," said Fatzinger. "We'll be back next year. Our year was up and down ... We can play well, we just don't do it all the time."END OF THE LINE ... Northwestern ended with a 14-11 record. Six of its losses were by one or two runs. The Tigers also suffered losses to three Schuylkill League Division 1 teams, falling to Pottsville on Wednesday, as well as Blue Mountain and Tamaqua during the regular season.REACHING BASE ... Tyler Schreiner didn't have any hits, but reached on two walks and was hit by a pitch. Austin Stasko also walked, while Bollinger was plunked with a pitch.LEFT ON BASE ... The Tigers left seven men on base, and were 1-for-5 with men in scoring position. Pottsville stranded nine, including the bases loaded twice.Northwestern 010 000 0 - 1 2 1Pottsville 040 020 x - 6 8 2Vogwill, White (5) and Wiik; Hinchliffe, Nabholz (6) and Herndon. W - Hinchliffe. L - Vogwill.