It wasn’t perfect, but the Packers got it done.

The Austin baseball team took home its first win of the season in a 7-4 home opening triumph over Northfield Monday at Seltz Field.

The Packers (1-2 overall) broke open a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Adam Hemann lined a fly ball to right field for a sacrifice fly and Joel Swatfager knocked in another run with a two-out, opposite field single.

“Coach said just try to hit something hard,” Hemann said of his sacrifice fly. “(With the wind blowing in) you mostly try and hit it on the ground or go the other way with it. You’re not going to hit anything up.”

The Packers fell behind 2-0 without giving up a hit in the first two innings after Northfield scored on a wild pitch in the first inning and plated a run on a double steal in the second inning.

Austin got back in the game by scoring three times in the bottom of the second. Jacob Winters blooped a single to right field to score a run and Austin scored it’s other runs on a throwing error by Northfield and a wild pitch.

“Sometimes the first win is the toughest one to get,” Austin head coach Troy Watkins said. “Things can happen when you put the ball in play. They threw it around a little bit and we took advantage.”

The Packers took an aggressive approach on the base-paths as they were running early and often.

“I wanted to get them going a little bit with a couple hit and runs. We were kind of stagnant and I think it was effective for us,” Watkins said.

On the mound, Hemann got out of a seventh inning jam to notch the victory. Northfield had runners on second and third with two outs when Hemann struck out Cole Jirik looking on a 3-2 fastball.

Hemann allowed just two hits but walked eight. That was much better than his last start when he walked the first four hitters against Albert Lea.

“This was definitely a better start than the Albert Lea game. I had to redeem myself and just throw strikes,” Hemann said.

Watkins was pleased with how Hemann battled on a cold and windy day.

“He did a nice job of coming back and throwing strikes. He really gutted it out today. We know that he can pitch and we’ve got a lot of confidence in Adam,” he said.

Another problem the Packers had against Albert Lea was hitting. On Monday, the Packers finished with seven hits with the wind was blowing in strong from left field.

“We looked a lot better at the plate. You could tell we had a couple of games under our belt,” Watkins said.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

Northfield 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 4 2 3

Austin 0 3 0 0 2 2 X 7 7 1

Austin pitching: Adam Hemann (W), 7 IP, 2 H, 8 BB, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 K

Austin hitting: Steven Rizzi, 1-for-2, R, BB; Jordan Hall, 0-for-3, BB; Mark Harber, 1-for-2, 2 BBs, R; Nate Wagner, 0-for-3, BB; Hemann, 0-for-3, RBI; Joel Swatfager, 1-for-2, RBI, R, BB; Dylan Monson, 2-for-3, R; Jacob Winters, 1-for-3, RBI; Mike Hoeper, 0-for-2, Nate Justice, 1-for-1, 2 R

Northfield pitching: Alex Bisch, 4 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 K; Matt Vogel (L), 1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 K