The Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball League did a little reconstructing since their season ended last summer, and those changes have altered the baseball landscape in Whitehall.

That change brings the consolidation of the two teams from the Whitehall-Coplay School District as Fullerton and Coplay have now merged.

Manager Jim Murphy, who was Coplay’s skipper last season, said that the Fullerton team got folded into the Coplay. He’s unsure of Fullerton’s future in the LVLBL, but next year he’ll be managing just the Coplay team.

The league also added a team, the Carbon Monarchs. Their players are from schools within Carbon County, and with their addition, the league stands at 10 teams.

The merger has been beneficial to the Coplay-Fullerton team judging by the early results. They currently sit atop of the standings with a 6-0 record.

Murphy attributes most of that success to their pitching. They have a strong, experienced staff that features Alex Bruneio, Dakota Schiffer, Zach Gilbert, Zachary Hamscher, Austin Dreisbach, Nathan Pontician and Jeison Peralta.

“The team is playing really well, and our pitching has been really good so far,” said Murphy. “We’ve got a really good rotation.”

Among pitchers who have thrown at least five innings so far this season, Gilbert and Schiffer lead the LVLBL with a 0.00 ERA. Gilbert is also first in WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) at 0.71.

Murphy said they’ve also been hitting the ball at a good clip. In their last four games they’ve scored 40 runs. Bruneio and Gianni Sinatore lead the league in homers with one apiece.

Their pitching and hitting has catapulted them into first place, and their only hiccup so far has been Sunday’s game against South Parkland. That game was suspended in the ninth inning with the scored tied 5-5. Murphy said that they were victimized by some late errors in that game.

The merger has helped the team become more competitive in every aspect of the game.

“This year it’s a little more rounded than last year,” said Murphy.

The merger will also help them better manage summer vacations and other sports commitments since they have a deeper pool of players now. Murphy said that at times his roster was depleted last season by players having jobs, family obligations, or another sport to attend. This season that hasn’t been the case.

The team also features Jose Berrios, a good table setter at the top of the order, Bryce Crum, Richard Figueroa, Hunter Kern, Jarrod Miller, Matthew Miller, Alejandro Monteverde, Javy Rodriguez, James Scheuren and Eric Smith.

Murphy said he has a good bunch of kids who come to play every day.

“I’m very happy with the way the kids are playing,” said Murphy.