A five-run second inning proved to be enough for the Whitehall Zephyrs’ to win their district baseball quarterfinal over Bangor, 7-2, on May 19, but for Whitehall coach Eric Schmitt, the Zephyrs couldn’t feel confident with any lead.

“Last year we blew a seven-run lead to this team to end our season,” Coach Schmitt said. “I kept on trying to tell the guys, ‘Play it like it’s 0-0. Keep on working at bats. Keep on getting base runners,’ because, you know, games go like that. You have that first wave of offense and then kind of die, and then the other team bounces back. That’s why I went really quick to (Jack) Lloyd. I didn’t want to take any chances. As soon as I knew I got him in a reasonable position where he wouldn’t go over the pitch limit for our next game, I went right to him.”

Whitehall pitcher Nik Christman threw five innings and gave up one run.

“Just throwing strikes,” Christman said. “I have an amazing defense behind me. (Catcher) Callen (Nicklas)- we’ve been playing together for the last decade or so, so the chemistry’s easily there. Getting ahead, throwing strike one curveballs late in the count was working a lot. The ball was moving pretty well.”

Left fielder Tanner Sweeney’s RBI double scored the first run for the Zephyrs.

“It was some off-speed early on in the count,” Sweeney said. “I saw that fastball, though, and really honed in on that. Our coach always says, ‘Center, left center,’ so that’s exactly where I put it. I kind of just took off, gave it a little peek rounding first and took off for second.”

Tyler Sanders and Donato Brigidi went back-to-back with RBI singles, and Sweeney scored on a throwing error by Bangor’s catcher.

“It’s good to have a rally,” said Sweeney. “You’ve got to take advantage of an error like that, so getting up quick and scoring is huge for the team. We knew we had to bring it to them early on.”

Sudge Hoderewski’s triple to right center scored the Zephyrs’ fifth run.

“When we can steal bases, move guys around, get guys on base, that’s how we operate, so I was happy that we were efficient that inning,” said Schmitt. “I wish we would’ve kept on that way for the next couple, but crooked numbers better than zero, for sure.”

Bangor scored in the top of the fifth inning on Cooper Karasek’s RBI single after a walk to Lincoln Rehrig who got to second base on a Whitehall error.

In the bottom of the sixth, Jules Alatzas’ RBI double and Sweeney’s sacrifice fly brought in two runs for Whitehall.

Bangor scored its last run on a Whitehall error.

The Zephyrs will take on Southern Lehigh in the semifinal on May 23.

“They’re a great ball club,” Schmitt said. “They do all the little things really, really well. We’ve got a battle on our hands for sure.”