The Zephyrs boys baseball team's quest for a district championship stayed on track as they leveled the Mountaineers last Saturday at Hackett Park.

The 11-3 win over Stroudsburg High School in the semifinals propels them into the championship game, and sets up another title rematch with Parkland High School on May 29 at Coca-Cola Park.

Editor's note: The game takes place after Press deadlines.

The win against Stroudsburg reflected another aspect of their game, one in which manager Shaun O'Boyle says is an important part of their success. While they scored 11 runs, they didn't string together a bunch of hits, but used their legs on the base paths to get their offense moving.

"It was all base running," said O'Boyle. "We didn't have that one big inning like we did against Freedom, so we sacrificed and used that."

As the game unfolded, O'Boyle said that it was apparent they could use their speed to advance runners, take the extra base, and steal bases.

"We saw early on that we could run on them," said O'Boyle. "We were very aggressive. That was our game plan going in."

O'Boyle said they scored their first two runs without a hit, taking advantage of a steal and a strikeout-wild pitch to Elliot Mortimer to help them plate two runs on ground outs.

He said that they put pressure on the Mounties to make plays, whether it was bunting runners over, or stealing a base, their aggressiveness on the base paths forced the Mounties to commit four errors.

The offense had its share of hits, with almost the entire line-up getting a hit against Stroudsburg, said O'Boyle. Jacob Meyers was 2-3, with a run scored and two batted in, while Ryan Bonshak had two hits and two runs scored. The big blow came off the bat of Jeff Charles who blasted one over the left field fence with one on in the sixth. The third baseman finished the game with three runs batted in.

As he did in the league finals against Parkland, Elliot Mortimer got tagged in the first inning, this time yielding three runs to the Mounties. But just as in that game, the senior hurler found his groove, tossing goose eggs the rest of the way.

O'Boyle said he didn't have an explanation for Mortimer's early struggles the last two games. He knows his pitcher will make adjustments and keep them in the game.

"Once he gets through the first inning, he's lights out," said O'Boyle.

Through his six innings of work, Mortimer had five strikeouts, three walks. O'Boyle said he worked out of a few jams, relying on moxie to keep the Mounties from scoring. Meyers finished the game, setting the Mounties down in order to preserve the win.

It's now another meeting with the Trojans to decide a championship. This fourth clash between the two schools will be at Coca-Cola park and Jake Wloczewski is scheduled to pitch, according to O'Boyle. O'Boyle said there's not a lot of secrets between the schools, just two good baseball teams vying for a district title.

"We know them; they know us." said O'Boyle. "It should be a good game."