A leadoff hitter's job is to set the table for the bigger bats in the lineup, get on base and make things happen. George Smith did all of that and drove in a key run for Emmaus Monday in their 3-2 win over Whitehall in the opening round of the District 11 Playoffs. The win sends Emmaus to the quarterfinals and a rematch with Stroudsburg who they beat earlier in the season.

Smith had two hits in the win over Whitehall, including a oneout RBI in the bottom of the fifth to score Teddy Tucker, who led off the inning with a double and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Teja Venigalla. Smith's RBI single tied the game at 2-2. After Austin Anderson walked, back-to-back fielding errors by Whitehall led to another run when Eric Cichocki was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing home what would prove to be the winning run.

Emmaus got on the board first in the fourth inning when Bartoni led off the inning with a base hit and gave way to courtesy runner Josh Trinchere. One out later, Trey Hinkle doubled to put runners on second and third and Cichocki drove a ball to right field, allowing Trinchere to score.

Whitehall came right back in the top of the fifth. An RBI single from David Gonzalez tied the game 1-1 and then a defensive miscue by the Hornets led to the go-ahead run for the Zephyrs. In the bottom of that inning, though, the Whitehall defense helped to hand the lead back to Emmaus.

"We saw teams do it to us all year," said Smith. "We make mistakes and we see teams capitalize on it, so it was nice to capitalize on some of their mistakes. We needed it and you always have to hustle everything out and we did today."

"Meyers is a pretty good pitcher and he threw the ball pretty well today," said Emmaus head coach Mike Mihalik of Whitehall starter Jake Meyers. "We didn't try to do too much, just put the ball in play. The one drawback for them in having Jake Meyers on the mound, is that he's not at shortstop and he's a phenomenal shortstop, so I think defensively, they weren't at their best today."

Bartoni threw a complete game for Emmaus, giving up five hits, one walk and collecting three strikeouts. Bartoni ran into a bit of a jam in the bottom of the seventh when Whitehall put runners on first and third with two outs, but Bartoni came back to strike out Gianni Sinatore for the third time to end the game.

Emmaus now has to travel to Stroudsburg to play the Mounties, who they beat earlier in the season.

The loss was the only regular season loss for Stroudsburg, whose only other loss came in the East Penn Conference championship game against Parkland. Stroudsburg ace Mike Nikorak, who is expected to be a first-round pick in next month's MLB draft, shutout Emmaus for four innings in their first meeting, striking out seven batters. While it's not known whether Nikorak will start against Emmaus, Smith isn't concerned.

"We faced him earlier in the year and that day leading up to it, I remember that I was stoked and I was ready to face him, because you don't get a chance to face a guy like that often," said Smith. "We beat them, so we know we can handle it and we know they're beatable, but they'll also be looking to beat us, so it's going to be tough."

Emmaus will start Hinkle, who also started and got the win against Stroudsburg in their regular season meeting. The winner of the Emmaus and Stroudsburg game advances to the semifinals against the winner of the Pleasant Valley at Easton quarterfinal game.