Sometimes, the record doesn’t tell the whole story.

That was the message from Northern Lehigh head coach Gerald Kresge after his team dropped an 8-4 Colonial League contest in a competitive matchup against Bangor on Monday.

“We are playing worlds apart from where we were last year,” Kresge said. “The record tells us some things, but we’re in every game. You’ve got to throw your best guy at us now. You can’t just come with your fourth pitcher and expect to beat us.”

Bryfogle Park hosted an entertaining affair between a Bulldogs squad riding a three-game winning streak following a 1-7 start to the season and a Slaters team that had just one win in its first eight games. Records aside, both teams were eager to prove themselves as tough, competitive opponents.

The Bulldogs started strong behind ace Connor Simms, who tossed three scoreless innings. In the bottom of the third, Parker Schaffer delivered a two-run single to open the scoring.

With Simms cruising and a 2-0 lead in hand, Northern Lehigh seemed to be in control. But as often happens in baseball, one swing changed everything.

That swing came off the bat of Bangor’s Dylan Keith, who blasted a home run in the top of the fourth to cut the deficit in half. The momentum-shifting shot sparked the Slaters, who became more patient at the plate and began to pressure Simms.

“I think what happened is we had them down, and then that was a bomb,” Kresge said. “That wasn’t a home run. That was a bomb. It just loosened them up, and they started playing a different ballgame from there.”

Bangor broke through in the sixth with a four-run outburst. Keith jump-started the rally with an RBI triple, followed by an RBI single from Nolan Koza that gave the Slaters the lead. Luke Rinaldi added a two-run single to make it 5-2.

Northern Lehigh answered quickly. In the bottom of the sixth, Jayden Christman and Landon Cougle each drove in runs to close the gap to 5-4. But with the bases loaded and a chance to take the lead, a strikeout ended the inning.

The missed opportunity proved costly.

In the top of the seventh, Keith delivered again, crushing a three-run homer to seal Bangor’s 8-4 victory.

Keith finished 3-for-4 with two home runs, a triple, five RBIs and three runs scored.

“Dylan’s a guy we rely on to do those kinds of things,” said Bangor head coach Anthony Martino. “He provides a little bit of power in the 3-hole for us. But the biggest thing is that the guys turn to him to make the big play and do the big things — and that’s what he did.”

Northern Lehigh fell to 4-8, but Kresge remains encouraged by the Bulldogs’ performance and progress.

“That’s the frustrating part — we’ve played well enough to probably have four more wins,” he said. “We just seem to have that one inning. As we learn to be a winning baseball team, this goes away. We have three losses by fewer than three runs — two of them one-run games — and we’ve been in every single game.”

The Bulldogs have also been navigating a thin roster, often with few players available off the bench. Kresge is optimistic about the future, however, thanks to a promising group of underclassmen.

“We’ve got the entire team back next year except maybe one or two guys,” he said. “We have three seniors — two of them started today. We’ve got a lot of young talent coming up, and we’re going to keep building the culture.”

UP NEXT ... Both teams are on the road Wednesday. Northern Lehigh will visit Southern Lehigh, while Bangor travels to face Moravian Academy.

Bangor 000 104 3 - 8 9 4

No. Lehigh 002 002 0 - 4 6 1

Merlo, Labar (6) and Baylock; Simms, Christman (6), Schaffer, (7) and Buskirk. W - Merlo. L - Simms.

Records: Bangor (2-6-1; 2-5-1 CL); Northern Lehigh (4-8; 4-8 CL).