The Whitehall Zephyrs packed five runs into two innings apiece to clinch a 10-5 victory over Parkland on April 24 at Whitehall.

Zephyr second baseman Donato Brigidi scored Whitehall’s first run on a passed ball in the first inning.

“We do practice this, and it does happen quite often,” Brigidi said. “That one went pretty high, so it was a pretty easy read.”

Chase Miller and Callen Nicklas had RBI singles, and Jack Lloyd doubled, also in the first inning, for a 5-0 Zephyr lead.

Five more runs in the bottom of the third came on Kolby Miller’s base hit that took an awkward skip down the third base line, and Nik Christman’s sacrifice fly.

Tyler Sanders walked on four straight balls, and Brigidi’s 3 RBI double cleared the bases.

“He struggled to throw a strike, but then when he threw a strike, I was looking for another one to come,” said Brigidi of Parkland pitcher Chase Smith. “I felt it hit hard, and as I was coming out of the box, I could see it was going in the gap. Shout out to Tyler Sanders on first base. He was running hard. With two outs, crack of the bat, you run.”

Parkland came back with two runs in the top of the fourth on RBI by Jack Streeter and Isaac Lentz.

“If you watch enough baseball games, it always seems that when you jump out to a big lead, especially against a good team like this, they’re gonna come back, so it was great we had another big inning,” said Whitehall coach Eric Schmitt. “I wish we would have scored after that, but they have great depth at pitching and were able to bring in other arms that shut us down, so that’s all we got, but in the end, it was enough.”

Ben Weninger’s 3-run homer for Parkland in the top of the fifth cut into the Zephyrs’ lead.

“We knew they weren’t gonna go away once we started scoring, so as they start to score, we just know we have to keep our foot on the gas and keep playing how we played in the first inning,” Brigidi said.

Whitehall’s Jack Lloyd came on in relief of Logan Shean, delivering three strikeouts in the top of the sixth.

“[Logan] was up past 80 in his pitch count anyway, and I knew I had Jack,” said Coach Schmitt. “He had the full three-days’ rest. He had 102 pitches his last start, so I didn’t want him to throw the whole game, but I knew if we got in a position where he was gonna pitch, he’s gonna come in, so we were prepared for it. It was a little bit more about the pitch count than the situation, but it worked out well.”

Parkland reliever Chase Brunner struck out three Zephyrs in the bottom of the sixth after giving up two walks.

In the top of the seventh, Tsubasa Magota hit a leadoff double to deep center for the Trojans, and Luqkai Dickson walked. After a double steal, Lloyd got out of the inning with a ground out and two strikeouts.

“We knew they’d battle to the last out. They were at the top of their order, their leadoff hitter had a big double, and he’s hitting over .500, so I’m not surprised, but we were able to withstand their last little run there,” Schmitt said. “I’m feeling pretty good right now, but the EPC is really competitive. You lose a couple games, and you’re out of the playoffs. Everyone’s so close, so my message is gonna be to enjoy this, but we have to come right back this week and win a couple ballgames.”