A five-run first inning helped Northampton overcome an early deficit on the way to a 14-4, 4 ½-inning win over Freemansburg at home in NorCo Legion baseball Monday.

After Freemansburg jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, Northampton batted around to take a 5-3 lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

“The momentum was in their favor,” said Bill Hughes, Northampton manager. “Fortunately, our guys came in and they were persistent, went up to bat, were aggressive, got some hits, and brought us right back. They have a high level of energy and, once they start rolling, they just feed off of each other.”

Freemansburg started fast when Mason Ziobro reached on a fielder’s choice with one out in the first, then moved to third when Ryan Kullman singled.

Anthony Fancera grounded to third base with two out, but Northampton’s throw was off target, allowing both Ziobro and Kullman to score, staking Freemansburg to a 2-0 lead. Then, Camil Puig singled to score Fancera and give Freemansburg its third run.

However, Northampton’s offense put them on top in their half of the first.

Aidan Sugra led off with a triple and scored on Gavin Caravallo’s single. After Freemansburg could not reel in a fly ball from Tyler Biechy to put a second runner on base, Brayden Giandomenico doubled to score Caravallo and cut the Freemansburg lead to one. Biechy scored on a Quinn Hughes groundout to tie the game at three.

Northampton took the lead for good when Logan Merkle reached on an error, scoring Giandomenico. Connor Muth’s single scored Merkle to give Northampton the lead at 5-3.

Northampton added three more runs in the second inning. Sugra, Caravallo and Biechy all reached to load the bases with nobody out in the inning. Zack Hartzell’s single scored Sugra. Giandomenico followed with a single to score Caravallo.

Freemansburg stopped another run when third baseman Jason Frederick cut off a ground ball at third and threw home for the force out. However with the bases still loaded, Merkle’s sacrifice fly scored Hartzell, giving Northampton an 8-3 lead.

Freemansburg got a run back in the third when Frederick was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and scored on a long triple by Kullman.

However, Northampton scored five more runs in their half of the third, all with two outs. After Sugra was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, Caravallo doubled to bring him home. Caravallo then scored when Biechy reached on a Freemansburg error. Zach Hartzell was hit by a pitch after Biechy to put two men on for Giandomenico, who crushed a three-run, inside-the-park home run to left field to give Northampton a 13-4 lead.

Northampton added one final run in the bottom of the fourth. Elliot Hughes singled and scored on an error.

The game ended when Freemansburg could not score in the top of the fifth.

After allowing three runs in the first inning, Giandomenico only allowed one more run in his next two innings of work. Quinn Hughes followed with two scoreless innings of relief.

“Brayden did well,” Hughes said. “One thing is that I brought him off the mound because of pitch count. We have to look at what we are doing the rest of the week, so we are going to need him again, but he did an excellent job. Quinn came in, threw a couple of balls up, but kept it down and kept the runs from scoring so that we were able to get the win.”

Northampton moved to 2-1 on the season with the win. They were scheduled to play Hellertown Wednesday (June 10) and are slated to visit Nazareth today (June 11).