The Colonial League baseball teams are throwing a big party when the season is over.

The Saucon Valley Panthers aren’t invited because the party is to celebrate the graduation of pitcher Cole Hubert.

To put it simply, Hubert has really annoyed hitters throughout the league with his high velocity pitches that seem to actively move away from a baseball bat.

On Tuesday, he did it again when he threw a one-hit shutout against Northwestern Lehigh in Saucon Valley’s 10-0 win.

In addition to being stingy with the hits, Hubert struck out nine batters while walking just one and hitting one batter with a pitch.

To add insult to injury, the Texas A&M recruit hit a two-run home run in the first inning that put the Panthers in front 2-0.

In the bottom of the inning, Eli Zimmerman worked a 3-1 count, but Hubert fired his way back with two pitches just on the edges of the strike zone to get Zimmerman swinging. Cannon Fitch followed with a line drive single to center and later advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw by Hubert, but was stranded there to end the inning.

The Tigers were on the verge of scoring in the second inning when Watson Church led off the inning by reaching on an error and then moved to second and then third on ground balls. Again though, Hubert shut it all down with a three-pitch strikeout to end the inning.

Northwestern starter Aidan Freeman settled in and retired the side in order in the second before giving up back-to-back singles to start the third inning. One out later, a fielder’s choice left runners on first and third and as Northwestern looked to turn the double play, an errant run allowed the runner from third to come home for a 3-0 lead.

Northwestern looked to again take advantage of a miscue when Zimmerman was hit by a pitch with one out in the third and then moved to second on an attempted pickoff. Good baserunning on a ground ball moved Zimmerman to third, but again Hubert just dug into his bag of tricks and battled back from a 2-0 deficit to strike out Cole Dynda and end the inning.

It was the first of what would become a streak of three straight strikeouts. From there, Josh Farber worked a two-out walk in the fourth but would be the last baserunner the Tigers would get as Hubert retired the final seven hitters he faced.

“We got a runner to third and we moved some runners, but we couldn’t come up with big hits when we needed them,” said Northwestern coach Brian Polaha.

“Hubert has the ability to throw with high velocity and put his pitches where he wants them, and he is smart enough to learn hitters and what he can get them out with.”

Saucon Valley broke the game open in the fifth inning when it put its leadoff hitter on base via an error and Freeman then allowed a single and a walk to load the bases.

The bad news for the league is that there is another Hubert; sophomore Noah Hubert delivered a two-run single to make it 5-0 and end the day for Freeman. Griffin Unrath came on and got the first out, but a single by Andrew Gilbert loaded the bases.

One out later, a pair of singles made it 8-0 before Unrath could work out of the inning. Jacob Carson came on to pitch in the sixth and a walk, hit batter, wild pitch and an RBI single made it 10-0 in favor of the Panthers.

Freeman battled through four innings and was victimized by a lack of defense that led to four unearned runs as Northwestern committed three errors.

Hubert, a left-hander, threw a two-hit shutout against Northwestern in last year’s District 11 3A quarterfinals and then returned to no-hit Salisbury in the finals to pitch what was a 9-9 team coming into districts to a 13-9 team going into states.

“Our hitters wanted to face him, and the coaches warned them to be careful about what you wish for. There isn’t anybody else like him in this league, and I think that sometimes hitters give away at-bats because they don’t want to fall behind in the count and they swing early in the count and wind up hitting weak ground balls,” said Polaha.

“I don’t know if he gets into hitters heads, but I can see where with certain hitters he might.”

THREE-HEADED MONSTER … Lehighton (6-0), Saucon Valley (5-0) and Northwestern (5-1) are the top contenders at this point for a Colonial League championship. Northwestern travels to Lehighton on April 25, three days after Lehighton hosts Saucon Valley.

Saucon Valley 201 052 - 10 11 3

Northwestern 000 000 - 0 1 3

C. Hubert and Male; Freeman, Unrath (5), Carson (6) and Fitch. W - C. Hubert. L - Freeman. HR: Saucon Valley - C. Hubert (1st, one on).

Records: Saucon Valley (5-0); Northwestern (5-1).