Northwestern’s baseball team came out on fire - scoring early and often on Monday afternoon - as it dusted rival Palmerton, 12-2, in a Colonial League matchup.

The Tigers were dangerous right from the start as they boomed out a commanding 9-0 lead after two innings.

“We’re starting to hit the ball the way we can,” Northwestern manager Brain Polaha said. “We had that (early season) rough stretch, but now we’re starting to come around the way I thought we would.”

Northwestern clubbed out nine hits in its first two at-bats.

The Tigers used a three-run rally to open the game. Eli Zimmerman led off with a base hit. He then stole second and moved to third on a passed ball. Cannon Fitch picked up an RBI groundout that plated Zimmerman. Bob Croneberger then singled before Josh Farber drew a walk. Both runners dashed home when Justin Augustus crushed a two-run double.

But the Tigers were just warming up at the plate.

In the second, they overwhelmed the Blue Bombers with a six-run uprising, sending 11 men to the plate and banging out six more hits. Back-to-back singles by Nick Fitzgerald and Colt Dynda got the flame burning. Fitch and Croneberger delivered RBI singles before Watson Church’s three-run double broke the game wide open.

“We’ve been getting better and better in practice, and now today our approach was just fantastic,” Polaha said. “Today we hit a lot of balls hard and and ran a lot of deep counts. We put a lot of great at-bats together.”

Tigers’ starting pitcher Farber took advantage of all the offense behind him to toss four innings and get the win.

“At times he may not have had his best stuff, but he worked through it,” said Polaha.

While it was a strong performance for Northwestern, it was one the Blue Bombers would like to put behind them.

“We’re a lot better team than what we showed today,” Bomber skipper Tyler Svetik said. “We’re not making the routine plays. When you don’t make those plays … Right now, we’re struggling.”

The only offensive smatterings by the Blue Bombers came when Luke Matsko was plunked by a pitch to open the home third and eventually came around to score on an AJ Borger single. The Bombers also managed a run in the fifth when Alex Keiper walked and scored on a two-out Pengelly single.

Northwestern also had a three-run outburst in the fourth, getting singles from Augustus, Fitzgerald and Dynda, and a two-run double by Zimmerman who smoked a shot to the gap in left field.

EARLY DEFENSIVE GEM ... After Northwestern scored three times in the first, it looked like Palmerton was going to answer in the bottom of the frame. The Bombers put runners on the corners as Borger and Cameron Pengelly delievered one-out singles. But the Tigers turned a terrific double-play to get out of trouble when Jake Grammes’ grounder to second was fielded cleanly by Fitsch who tagged Pengelly and tossed to first to complete the twin killing.

MORE ‘D’ … Besides the aforementioned Northwestern twinkilling, the Bombers got one of their own in the fifth. First baseman Mason Geroge fielded a grounder, stepped on the bag, and then threw to second where shortstop Jason Carrelli was waiting to make the tag.

AT THE PLATE … Pengelly and Borger each had two hits for the host. Corneberger led the winners with three hits, while Zimmerman, Augustus and Dynda all collected two.

SUPERB BEHIND THE PLATE … Catchers are some of the toughest and hardnosed players around. Kudos to Northwestern’s Augustus. He can really dig it out of the dirt, and is a top-flight receiver.

Northwestern 360 30 - 12 12 0

Palmerton 001 01 - 2 6 3

Farber, Moyer (5) and Augustus; Grammes, Reph (2), Stroup (5) and Stroup, Reph (5). W - Farber. L - Grammes.