Matt Lanzone didn’t let a little early trouble get him down Monday when Emmaus took on Whitehall at Coca-Cola Park.

The senior starting pitcher allowed three hits and a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. But he got out of the inning and bounced back with five shutout innings as the Hornets came back to beat the Zephyrs 12-2 in six innings.

“I was feeling good,” Lanzone said of the first inning. “They just hit a couple. I left a couple [pitches] too much over the plate and they took advantage of that. After that I was really able to start hitting my spots on the corners. Then I settled down and went from there.”

The Hornets trailed by two runs until the fourth inning when Adam LeMaster (2-for-2) drew a leadoff walk and Wyatt Henseler singled with no outs. Zachary Schrader knocked in one run with a single to right field. Eric Cichocki (3-for-5, 4 RBIs) knocked in another run with a single down the third-base line.

Evan Marushak put his team ahead with a two-run triple to the left field corner and the Hornet bats stayed hot over the next two innings.

“Evan’s in the zone right now,” said Hornet head coach Mike Mihalik. “He did that today off two left-handed pitchers. He’s swinging the bat well when he can get hits like that off two left-handed pitchers.”

Marushak (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) had two triples in the game as he was stranded on third base after a one-out triple in the first inning.

“Even in the first couple innings,” said Lanzone, “we weren’t scoring runs but guys were getting on base and we were a hit or two away from putting up runs. Seeing that fourth inning, that was awesome.”

Whitehall pulled starter Alex Bruneio after four innings and sent Matt Dobeck out in the fifth inning. The Hornets jumped on Dobeck for four runs in the fifth, including a two-run double from Nicholas Amey and a two-run single from Cichocki.

Emmaus finished the game off with a four-run sixth inning as the mercy-rule clinching run scored on Cichocki’s single with one out.

Lanzone allowed seven hits in the game and just those two early runs. He struck out four and walked two in his first outing of the year.

“He got better as the game went on,” said Mihalik. “I was really happy to see he didn’t let the two runs in the first inning affect him. That’s what we needed.”

Lanzone also puts up good numbers in the classroom. He scored a 1410 on his SAT. He’s been accepted to Lehigh, Penn State, Delaware and South Carolina and plans to major in electrical engineering.

For now he’s going to enjoy his last high school baseball season and he’s pleased with the way his 4-1 team bounced back after losing to Northampton last week.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” said Lanzone. “We weren’t feeling awesome after last week, losing a game we should have won. This helps a lot, especially with a big week coming up. This was a huge win.”

Lanzone has stellar defense played behind him against Whitehall. The Hornets’ only error in the game came on a Lanzone pick off throw in the first inning.

The Hornets improved to 2-1 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference with the win over Whitehall. They finished the week with Tuesday’s nonleague game against Pottsville and an EPC game Thursday against Dieruff. They’ll make up last week’s postponed game against Parkland on Monday, April 17.

Mihalik likes the way his team has played through five games and wants it to continue throughout spring.

“I love our defense,” he said. “I really like the way we’ve been swinging the bat. Even against Northampton we put some good at bats together. Our pitching has been good but it hasn’t been outstanding and that’s OK. We’re coming out with victories. I think we’ll get some guys healthy, get some guys a little bit more time on the mound. That was Matt’s first outing today. The best of our pitching staff is yet to come.

“It’s all about how we finish. I just want to keep this momentum going. We have a chance to have a great week.”