After establishing a pattern of consistency heading into last Thursday’s game against Emmaus at Coca-Cola Park, the loss to their division rivals was simply out of character for the Zephyr baseball team.

Manager Shaun O’Boyle described it as a “meltdown,” coming apart in almost all facets of the game.

“The things we were doing all year, we didn’t do,” said O’Boyle. “We struggled to throw strikes, we made base running errors.”

All that added up to an 8-5 loss. It was their first league loss of the year and only their second loss of the season. They still sit alone the top of the Skyline Division of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, one game ahead of Parkland. Those two were scheduled to square off against one another at Whitehall on Tuesday, but bad weather once again forced a postponement. The new date is April 27.

Even with those factors against them, they still mounted a comeback in their final at-bat against the Green Hornets. O’Boyle said that Javy Rodriguez singled, and Alex Bruneio tripled, scoring Rodriguez. Bruneio would score on Austin Dreisbach’s grounder, cutting the Hornet lead to 8-5. O’Boyle said that it was a bang-bang play at first base, and their chances to add more runs in the frame fell by the wayside after the close play at first.

The Zephs were facing Todd Moxey who went six innings, allowing just one earned run. He would also come through at the plate, going 2-4 with two runs scored.

O’Boyle said that if their was one positive spin from the game, they still were within striking distance despite not playing their best game.

“We played our worst game of the year, and we were still in it,” O’Boyle said.

The Zephs got RBIs from Matt Dobeck, Bruneio, Dresibach and Rodriguez.

The last time the Zephs won at Coca-Cola Park was 2013 when Elliot Mortimer blanked Parkland 1-0.

The Zephs rebounded after that loss with a 7-2 win over Brandywine Heights High School. They scored in every inning but the first en route to their 9th win of the season.

O’Boyle said that the Bullets had a good team, sporting an 8-3 record heading into Saturday’s game.

This time the Zephs got back to their old ways, and capitalized on their opportunities, said O’Boyle.

“We took advantage of a lot of mistakes that they made,” said O’Boyle.

The Zephs rode the arm of starting pitcher Dobeck, who threw five innings for his second win of the season. He allowed just three hits and one run over those five innings, and also helped his own cause with an RBI, raising his season total to nine.

O’Boyle said that Dobeck could have pitched a complete game, but they wanted him available for the game against the Trojans if needed.

Zach Hamscher closed out the game to nail down the victory. Hamscher also had an RBI in the game. Also coming through with RBIs for the Zephs were Rodriguez and David Laky.

The Zephs will now turn their attention toward Parkland. They got swept by the Trojans the last two seasons and they’ll be looking to reverse that trend when they send Matt Ziminsky to the mound.

O’Boyle said the key will be to throw strikes, and if they do that they’ll be able to stay in the game. He also said they need to play good defense. That’s one area that’s been solid all season.

“We just have to keep making those routine plays,” he said.