It had been a while since Josh Williamson had pitched to anybody outdoors. With the harsh weather barely subsiding, the Northwestern Tigers were on a baseball field for just the second time on Wednesday and Williamson enjoyed the opportunity, even though the conditions weren't perfect.

With a brisk wind blowing throughout the game, Williamson and the Tigers picked up a 6-4 Colonial League win over Palmerton.

"I was a little nervous," said the senior right-hander. "Just because it was the first time I've gotten to pitch outside and the conditions were a little rough, but once you pitch an inning, you calm down and get ready to go."

Williamson delivered a two-out RBI single to drive in Tyler Schreiner.

Schreiner's one-out single drove in Brady Mengel to give the Tigers the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning.

Williamson's lone bad inning came in the bottom of the second. Kole Rodrigues delivered a two-run single to tie the game. Palmerton scored two more runs, one unearned, in the inning to take a 4-2 lead.

While his defense made two errors behind him early, Williamson got some defensive help in the fourth when Niko Fager made a big play on a ball hit to right field that the wind made dance around. Fager adjusted his route and dove to make the catch for the first out of the inning. It turned out to be a big play, because Palmerton would mount a small two-out rally, before Williamson fanned Isaac George to end the threat.

"I'm a senior and I know that things are going to happen and you just have to be mature about it. You can't let those things [errors] bother you, you just keep going and see what happens," said Williamson, who struck out seven over his five innings of work.

Offensively, Northwestern (1-0, 2-0) didn't let its bats go silent when it fell behind early. Tyler Wiik delivered a two-out single in the second that would lead to a third run. Courtesy runner Ian Gruber went to second on a single by Mengel and then scored on a base hit by Jake Augustus.

In the third, Schreiner led off the inning with a single and Nicholas Rodriguez delivered a perfectly executed hit-and-run single to put runners on the corners.

A wild pitch would score Schreiner and Rodriguez scored on a single from Brandon Miller to put Northwestern up 5-4.

"We're aggressive and we have some sticks in the lineup," said Northwestern coach Len Smith. "We fell behind by a couple runs, but these kids don't quit, they'll battle you and give you all 21 outs.

"We've got to do the small things and be sound fundamentally and be able to be aggressive on the bases."

The Tigers pushed across an insurance run in the sixth when Fager singled with one out and gave way to pinch-runner Taylor Breininger, who quickly stole second and then scored on an RBI single by Wiik.

"It's nice to know that if you do get down by a couple of runs, these guys are going to score some runs and pick you up," said Williamson.

Augustus came on in relief of Williamson and threw two shutout innings, striking out the side in the seventh to record the save. Zachary Buck took the loss for Palmerton (0-1, 0-1), allowing five runs on ten hits over three innings.