It turned into a Saturday night slugfest when the Carbon Monarchs visited Sammy Ballet Stadium to play Coplay-Fullerton in a Lehigh Valley Legion game.

When the bats stopped pinging, Coplay-Fullerton had weathered a final flurry from the Monarchs who scored three runs in the top of the seventh, but Alex Bruneio’s catch in deep right ended the threat, preserving the 9-7 victory.

The win firmly keeps Coplay-Fullerton in first place in the Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball League. After Sunday’s win, their record stands at 10-0. They’re 3.5 games ahead of South Parkland in the race for the regular season championship.

Against the Monarchs, Coplay-Fullerton had 12 hits. They also allowed 12 hits, but took advantage of their scoring opportunities to come out on top.

They also made some excellent defensive plays.

In the fifth, Jarrod Miller made a nice play on a sharply hit ground ball to third. The Monarch base runner saw that Miller was going to double him up with a quick tag so he broke for home. Miller chased the runner and then tossed to home where Austin Dreisbach applied a strong tag on the head-first sliding Monarch.

Manager Jim Murphy likes the fact that he has kids who don’t quit. They always have the mindset that they can come back, and that was apparent against the Monarch who had a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the third. But Coplay-Fullerton kept chipping away, finally erupting for four runs in the sixth to help them stay unblemished.

The Monarchs then staged a rally of their own in the seventh. It all happened with two outs as they got a couple of singles and a triple to cut the lead to two. Murphy knew they just needed to make a play, one play, and the inning would be over.

“They realized they had to get the out, and they got the out,” said Murphy.

That play came courtesy of Bruneio who tracked down the fly to end the game. Along with Bruneio’s clutch catch, Murphy said that Bryce Crum made a good catch in left to help end a threat.

At the plate, the Zephs got a big day from a number of players, including Zach Hamscher who was 2-3 with a double, home run, and three RBIs. Bruneio also homered, his shot to right field coming in their four-run sixth.

Gianni Sinatore had a good day at the plate as well, finishing 2-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Dreisbach was also 2-4 with two runs scored, while Miller was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI.

“The team played well as a team,” said Murphy. “I was really proud of them.”

Murphy said that they’ve been starting to hit the ball really well. In fact, they’ve been on a tear the last four games, scoring 34 runs over that span.

Dakota Schiffer started for Coplay-Fullerton. He went six innings, while Hamscher closed out the game in the seventh.

Bruneio leads the LVLBL in two offensive categories. He’s tops in slugging percentage with a 0.889 mark, and is also first in OPS (On base Plus Slugging) at a 1.389 clip.

On the mound, Coplay-Fullerton possesses two pitchers who are leading the league in ERA (minimum of 8 innings) as Zach Gilbert has a perfect 0.00 ERA, while Dreisbach has a stingy 0.84 and Bruneio has a paltry 1.27.

Gilbert and Schiffer are among the leaders in WHIP (Walks plus Hits per Innings Pitched), with Gilbert at an 0.80 and Schiffer at 1.23.

Schiffer is also tied for first in strikeouts with 15, while Hamscher shares the lead in saves with one.