Exit velocity and hard hit rate are trendy terms in baseball these days.

One look at Nick Bogert’s line would suggest that North Parkland excelled in those categories Tuesday night against the Northern Valley starter.

After all, the right-hander allowed 12 hits and nine runs in 5 2/3 innings as the Chargers dropped a 10-7 Lehigh Valley Legion decision.

But statistics can sometimes be deceiving, and that was the case with Bogert.

The Northern Valley hurler was the victim of soft contact that often found holes which snowballed to crooked numbers on the scoreboard.

“Nick is just a worker,” said Brad Rauch, the Chargers’ manager. “He keeps them off-balance, and because he keeps them off-balance you get those little dink hits and those little bloopers that you can’t really defend. It makes it hard.

“He’s where he needed to be, throwing strikes and not walking a lot of kids. He’s got a couple of (off-speed pitches). He’s got a good curve ball and some crazy off-speed stuff.”

Gavin Mohry did manage one of the few hard-hit balls - a double in the first inning - off Bogert to give the Buffaloes a 1-0 lead, but then Tyler McNichols was jammed and fisted a flare to center to knock in another run.

In the third, North Parkland managed a seeing-eye grounder for a hit. After a ground out moved the runner, another dribbler to deep short resulted in an infield single that eventually set up another tally to push the margin to 4-0.

“It’s a shame, because it seems like multiple games Nick’s been in where we’re close and he’s pitching (well), we just can’t get enough runs to get on top,” said Rauch.

The Chargers did rally for three runs in the home third to pull within a run. Wes George and Bobby Croneberger both walked and raced home on Shaun O’Donnell’s two-run double to the left field gap. O’Donnell eventually scored on an error.

Unfortunately, those would be the only runs Northern Valley would score until rallying in the final inning. In between those frames, the Buffaloes crossed home six more times to build a sizable advantage.

In the fourth, two soft hits helped plate a couple runs for North Parkland. In the sixth, a slow roller to short resulted in another tally and a swinging bunt brought home the Buffaloes’ ninth run of the game.

Trailing 10-3 in the home seventh, the Chargers made things interesting with the tying run reaching the on-deck circle. George opened the inning with a scalding double to left and scored on Jared Felch’s RBI single. After two outs, Andy Diehl walked. Justin Augustus followed with a single to center to score Felch. Nick Buskirk then knocked in a pair of runs with a hit.

With Josh Farber at the plate, a wild pitch allowed Augustus to score to make it 10-7, but Buskirk was thrown out trying to advance to third to end the game.

“We left a lot of guys on base today and that definitely hurt us,” said Rauch, whose team had the bases loaded twice without scoring. “That’s kind of where we’ve struggled a lot this year. We wait too long to score runs ... And our base running hasn’t been the best. We’re trying to be too aggressive.”

The loss, Northern Valley’s second in a row, dropped its record to 2-3. North Parkland improved to 3-1.

“We’ve got a good team, but the teams in the league this year are good ball teams that are coached very well and have high school talent. So you’re playing both Parklands, you’re playing Whitehall, you’re playing Southern Lehigh. You have to make sure every game you’re on your A-game because you’re really not going to get a down day.

“We’ll bounce back. We have a good group of guys, so I’m not concerned. We’re just working on getting better every game.”

DOUBLE TROUBLE ... Of Northern Valley’s eight hits, half of them were doubles. The two-base hits came from O’Donnell, George, Augustus and Trey Sterling.

TEMPER, TEMPER ... Before the final pitch was thrown by North Parkland’s Chase Whittaker, who came in to relieve winning pitcher Leo Dauberman, the home plate umpire told the Buffaloes one of their substitutions wasn’t allowed (relating to the extra hitter spot). That set off a delay where their coaches pleaded their case. When Rauch eventually tried to intervene and help the situation, the umpire got upset with him as well. “It’s supposed to be an extra hitter, not a different position player every time, and that’s where it’s getting confusing for everybody because it’s not being used in the lineup as just another hitter,” Rauch said. “We agreed that you can rotate in, but it’s still not being used the right way and it’s the biggest headache ever.”

North Parkland 301 203 1 - 10 14 2

Northern Valley 003 000 4 - 7 8 2

Sepko, Dauberman (3), Whittaker (7) and Anderson; Bogert, Moyer (6) and Augustus. W - Dauberman. L - Bogert.