It didn't take much time for Northwestern to get on top of Salisbury Thursday afternoon.

A three-run first inning put the Tigers out in front where they would stay for good. That quick burst proved to be crucial as they defeated the Falcons, 4-0, in a Colonial League contest."It was important for us to get out early," said head coach Robert Fatzinger. "Whenever you're playing a team like Salisbury that has had recent success, you want to get some momentum early and (then) go out and finish the job. And we were able to do that."Six players reached base in the bottom of the first inning, highlighted by singles from Tyler Schreiner, Tyler Wilk, Zach Stanley, and Mason Vogwill as Northwestern (11-7 overall, 11-6 league) wasted no time in putting itself in a good position to win."Getting your leadoff guy on is always important. Tyler led off with a single, which was huge because it led to a big inning," Fatzinger said. "They made some mistakes and helped us out a little bit, but we hit the ball hard and made some things happen."Backed by the early cushion, starting pitcher Niko Fager looked comfortable on the mound and gave Fatzinger and his team six solid, shutout innings in posting the win."We needed this one," said Fatzinger. "Today we had good pitching. We needed someone to give us some innings because we were short-staffed with some other guys being used up. But Nico did a good job today limiting anything they could've done."The Falcons (7-8 league) didn't have a base runner advance past second, and never seriously threatened any type of rally.One of Salisbury's errors led to the lone run scored after that first inning.In the bottom of the third, Stanley led off with an infield single. That was followed up by a walk to Haas. Vogwill then came up to the plate to sacrifice the runners over, but his bunt was fielded and thrown into right field. Stanley scored on the throwing error.Fager cruised along from there before giving way to Jacob Haas to start the seventh.A HELPING HAND ... Salisbury committed six errors, four of which came in the two innings that Northwestern scored their runs.THREE'S A COMPANY ... The Tigers' Stanley finished the game with three hits.Salisbury 000 000 0 - 0 4 6Northwestern 301 000 x - 4 9 2Fager, Haas (7) and Wilk; Linn, Irwin (4) and Dubios. W-Fager. L-Linn.