Northwestern has enjoyed plenty of success to begin the season. A 6-1 mark in the Colonial League has the Tigers sitting atop the standings along with Notre Dame (Green Pond), who is also 6-1 in conference play.

After dropping their fourth game of the Colonial League season against Southern Lehigh (7-3), the final game in a stretch of four games in five days, the Tigers responded with three straight league wins. Most recently, the Tigers downed Bangor on Sunday and Palisades on Tuesday.

The reason for that success, according to long-time head coach Len Smith is that the Tigers have been excelling in all phases of the gamespitching, hitting and defense.

"The pitching has been pretty good to start the season," Smith said. "It's a combination of things really. It's the pitching. We've been able to score some runs, and we've been playing some pretty good defense.

"For the beginning of the season, I think we're playing well with not being able to get on the field, not being able to practice outside early on, not getting the repetitions that you like to get on the field drill-wise, and hitting outside. Hopefully as time goes on, we're going to get better and better in all aspects of the game."

The Tigers' 11-3 romp over the Slaters to end last week showcased what the Tigers' bats are capable of when clicking on all cylinders. It was the fourth time in seven conference games that the Tigers have scored at least 11 runs.

On Monday, it was a four-hit pitching performance from senior Brandon Eden and a solid defensive outing from Northwestern that propelled the Tigers to a narrow 1-0 victory over the Pirates.

Eden is one of five returning pitchers who saw varsity time on the mound last year. Senior Josh Williamson has been the Tigers' ace early onhe pitched a no hitter against Northern Lehigh last week. But it's been the combined success across the rotation that has been one of the biggest factors in Northwestern's hot start.

Seniors Jordan Storm and Nick Rodriguez and juniors Jake Augustus and Brandon Miller also have pitched for Northwestern this season.

"We're really fortunate because we return all of our pitching from last year," Smith said. "That has helped us tremendously, [and] that's part of the reason probably why we're off to a better start than most."

The road ahead doesn't get any easier for the Tigers. After Wednesday's game against Catasauqua, which was played after Press deadline, the Tigers travel to Palmerton on Friday.

But that's when the tide begins to turn. Northwestern then takes on Notre Dame (Green Pond) on Saturday with the top spot in the Colonial League possibly at stake. The Tigers then travel to Salisbury, wich is right behind them in the West Division, on Tuesday afternoon.

Still, despite two pivotal conference matchups on the horizon, Smith and the Tigers are focused on the tasks at hand this week.

"One thing that we really preach a lot is that we take one game at a time," Smith said. "We don't want to look beyond that.

"We say each game is as big as the next one. We don't take anyone lightly. We approach each game in that manner. As soon as we look past someone and take someone for granted, you're going to struggle."