Maybe it was all that snow preventing the Zephyrs from taking their home baseball field that subconsciously thrust last Saturday’s game into extra innings when they got to Myrtle Beach to play their first game of the season.

They played for 10 innings against North Hills (PA.) at the Cal Ripken Experience, a game that was finally decided when the Indians struck for two runs in the bottom of the frame to win 5-4.

Whitehall banged out nine hits during the contest. While that was a good sign, manager Shaun O’Boyle said the downside to that was that three players accounted for eight of those nine hits. Matt Dobeck went 4-5, including two RBIs. Alex Bruneio was 2-5 in the game, while Zach Hamscher was 2-4 with two RBIs. Robbie Lamm had the remaining knock, reaching first base on an infield hit.

Matt Ziminsky started the game on the mound, but left in the 6th with some shoulder soreness, said O’Boyle. Bruneio entered the game with two outs in the inning and promptly got the final out. He put up goose eggs over the next three frames until the Indians rallied in the 10th for the win.

The Bears capitalized on two hits and a steal, with the winning run advancing to second on a throw to home. Luke Chutko delivered the game-winning hit for the Indians.

O’Boyle said that it was a well-played game. Neither team committed an error, and both teams allowed just two walks.

“Everybody put the ball in play,” he said.

Unfortunately, a lot of those balls found Indian’s gloves.

“We had a lot of hard hit balls, they were just at people,” said O’Boyle.

O’Boyle said that another positive take-away was their ability to score runs when the opportunity arose.

“When we got guys in scoring position, we did bring them home,” said O’Boyle. “The problem was getting them there.”

With the team now back home in preparation for the start of their Eastern Pennsylvania Conference schedule, he said the focus this week will be on their hitting. He said that more players need to contribute and that’s what they’ll be working on as they head into a week that features games against Allentown central Catholic and Crestwood High School.

O’Boyle said that it was another good time in the Palmetto state as they got in a lot of work and had fun doing it.

The Zephs open their EPC schedule against ACC at Sammy Balliet Stadium on Friday.