One of the aspects to Whitehall’s early success on the diamond was the ability of their pitchers to keep batters from reaching the base via the walk.

That wasn’t the case when they met Parkland as walks, along with hit batsmen, helped the Trojans extend innings, paving the way for the 6-3 win at Coca-Cola Park last Sunday.

While he may not have had his best stuff, starting pitcher Matt Ziminsky battled all afternoon, keeping the Zephs within striking distance in his 6 1/3 innings on the mound. He struck out four, his best inning coming in the fourth when he recorded two of those Ks.

Manager Shaun O’Boyle said that Ziminsky’s been good all year. He was coming off a dominating performance against the K-Kids last week, and was hoping to reverse their fortunes at Coca-Cola Park, a place where they haven’t won since 2013.

However, he issued one of those walks in the first inning, but a superb fielding play at third by Jake Lisicky, and a clean pick at first by Jack Kaintz on the low throw, followed by a Ziminsky snare of a hard comebacker, got them out of the bases-loaded jam.

That wasn’t the case in the second as a hit batsman came around to score on Cullan Wadsworth’s triple, giving the Trojans a 3-0 lead.

Wadsworth’s hit was one of the plays that helped swing the tide, according to O’Boyle. Ziminsky was dealing with Wadsworth with two outs and two runners on base. Wadsworth is Parkland’s best hitter, and the Trojan ripped a ball to the wall that cleared the bases.

The other play that O’Boyle pointed to happened in the bottom of the fifth. Jake Paashaus led off the inning with a double. Ben Anotonchak’s sacrifice bunt moved courtesy runner Ryan Pavone to third. After a Robbie Lamm walk to put runners at the corners with one out, Adin Hoderewski stepped to the plate. In most situations a ground ball would score the run, but Hoderewski’s hard grounder went right to where their third baseman was playing, about even with the bag, preventing Pavone from scoring. The fielder’s choice took the sting out of their rally, and Trojan starting pitcher Adam Smith retired the next batter to get out of the jam.

“That’s baseball,” said O’Boyle, who knows that one play here or there can have an impact on the game.

One play that stirred some controversy was a play at third in the first inning when it appeared that Jake Lisicky tagged out the runner at third after fielding a short hop in front of the bag. But the runner was ruled safe, prompting O’Boyle to ask the home-plate umpire to intervene since he had the better angle because the third-base ump was behind the play. But O’Boyle said that the home plate umpire didn’t see the play and therefore the call stood. That gave the Trojans bases loaded with one out, but Ziminsky retired the next two batters to keep the Trojans off the scoreboard.

The Zephs got on the board in the bottom of the second. Andrew Snyder got things rolling with a single to right. A passed ball allowed Snyder to advance to second, and he scored when Kaintz drove a ball just inside the first base bag, getting them on the board. Kaintz was tagged out trying to stretch the hit into a double, and the rally ended with a Paashaus strikeout.

Their next run came in the bottom of the fourth when Jake Lisicky opened the inning with a single to center. Ziminsky’s fly ball to right, where fielders were struggling with the sun all game, dropped in for a hit. Snyder’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, and Joe Lisicky’s RBI grounder gave them their second run.

But Adam Smith wouldn’t allow any more runs in his six innings of work. The Zephs scored their final run in the bottom of the seventh on a passed ball, but Trojan reliever Koby Staivecki closed the door after that to preserve the 6-3 win.

“I thought we played well,” said O’Boyle. “These guys have a lot of fight.”