Northwood's baseball team took a step toward reaching the CIF playoffs Friday, defeating league leading Beckman, 8-5, at Northwood.

The loss moved Beckman, which was alone at the top of the league, into a tie for first with University with 8-3 records. University defeated Woodbridge, 3-2, on Friday.

Northwood (10-10, 5-6) is still battling for third place. If the Timberwolves don't finish in the top three, they hope to advance as an at-large team and need at least a .500 record to do so.

Northwood got a strong pitching performance from Jack Pabich, who struck out eight and allowed seven hits and three runs through six innings.

Matt Kaplan, Matt Locklear and Jordan Gisch each had two hits. Locklear had three RBI and James Clothier two RBI.

Jake Hoffman, who had pitched well in a 1-0 loss on Tuesday, came in as Beckman began a comeback in the seventh inning. He got Torin Goldsten and Garret Brown to pop out with the bases loaded to earn the save.

"It was a fitting ending to see Jake get the save seeing that he pitched so well in the 1-0 loss on Tuesday," Stuart said. "He showed a lot of grit and pitched through some serious pressure. It was a great team victory every player had a hand in that win and it was obviously a big win for our team. Jack really came out today with a purpose. He made every pitch when it counted."

Tyler Cook was 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBI, Connor Deneen was 1 for 2 with two RBI and Spencer Ludin 2 for 3 with a double and a stolen base for Beckman.

Beckman (16-6) plays at University Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. in the first of a two-game series.

Northwood hosts Irvine Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. in the first of a two-game series.