It was exactly the type of game that manager Shaun O’Boyle had envisioned during the Zephyrs recent spate of league contests that had them scrambling to get above .500.

It was a quality win against a good opponent, a game in which everything came together when they hosted Allentown Central Catholic on a windy Wednesday afternoon. They scored early and often, blanking the Vikings 10-0 to earn their seventh win of the season. It also evened their league mark at 6-6.

“I told them that was the best game we played all around, taking the extra base; we hit, and we made the plays in the field,” said O’Boyle.

The Vikings were 6-8 coming into the game with wins over Emmaus and Nazareth. They were also challenging Whitehall for one of the remaining Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoff spots, and were looking to gain some ground on their EPC foes.

They also got an outstanding pitching performance from southpaw Alex Bruneio who went five innings to pick up the victory. Matt Dobeck came in relief to shut the door in the sixth, and as soon as the Zephs added a deuce in the bottom of the sixth, the 10-run rule was invoked and the Zephs inched closer to a playoff spot.

O’Boyle said that Bruneio continues to pitch “lights out” in his most recent starts. He allowed just one hit over five innings, striking out 11 batters for his second win of the season. Three of those Ks came in the fourth when ACC got an infield hit to put a runner on base. The next two batters reached on errors, jamming the sacks with Vikings. With nobody out, Bruneio fanned the next three hitters to get out of the inning unscathed.

The senior has a paltry 1.87 ERA this season, and he was dominant against the Vikings all afternoon.

O’Boyle said that he’s shortened his rotation to mainly two arms, as Bruneio and Zach Gilbert have now filled those roles. He’s going to go with that lefty combination knowing he has quality arms still at his disposal, including Dobeck and Zach Hamscher if he needs to go deeper. He also likes Eric Smith as an option, especially in relief.

“They both are throwing a lot of strikes and getting a lot of strikeouts,” said O’Boyle.

The Zephs got things rolling quickly with two runs in the bottom of the first. Robbie Lamm led off with a single. Hamscher, who went 2-3 with 3 RBIs, hit a triple to drive in Lamm, and the Zephs took the early lead.

The ability to put runs on the board in each of their first two at-bats helped settle them into a good groove. O’Boyle said that scoring four runs alleviates a lot of stress.

“It’s always a plus,” said O’Boyle. “It takes the pressure off. Getting an early lead is always good to lessen that pressure on your starting pitcher.”

They plated another two runs in the second when ACC committed two throwing errors to score Lamm. Hamscher then served a dunker to right for an RBI to put them up 4-0.

Still, he said they weren’t comfortable with a six-run lead and want to keep adding onto the scoreboard. Gilbert finished the game 2-3 with an RBI, while Bruneio was 1-3, that one hit was a double that drove in three runs.

While they would have liked to build on that win, their next two games were postponed because of rain. O’Boyle said that his team is playing good baseball right now.

“We’re starting to put it together at the right time,” said O’Boyle.