The Whitehall baseball team did its damage early, and that was enough to defeat Peters Township High School in their season opener.

The Zephyrs blanked the Indians 2-0, riding the effective arms of starter Andrew Snyder and reliever Shane Fillman for the victory at the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The Zephs left last Wednesday, participating in a couple of scrimmages, one of which wasn’t over until midnight with the game against Peters Township the following morning.

But head coach Shaun O’Boyle had his team well prepared. He said that he and his staff scouted the Indians, and used that information to formulate a game plan on how to attack Peters Township, a really good hitting team.

And then it was up to Snyder to execute it.

O’Boyle said that the senior did an excellent job using his off-speed pitches to neutralize their big hitters and keep them off balance.

“He did a great job doing it,” said O’Boyle.

Snyder allowed eight hits and had to work out of some jams, but he only walked one. O’Boyle had said that one of his best attributes is being around the paste and pitching to contact, something that allowed him to pick up his first victory of the season.

When it came time to bring in a reliever in the seventh, O’Boyle said that the chose Fillman because of his ability to throw off-speed pitches. They had good success with it the first six innings and they wanted to maintain that. Fillman throws a knuckleball, a pitch seldom seen by batters at any level. He kept the Indians off the board, earning the save.

“He came in and did a good job in the seventh,” said O’Boyle.

The Zephs scored both runs in the first. After Adin Hoderewski made an out, Fillman reached on an error. Snyder followed with a walk, but the ball got away from the catcher, allowing Snyder and Fillman to move up.

O’Boyle said he stresses his players run to the bases, even on walks, and that mindset helped them put two into scoring position. He said that taking care of the little things and making them become habits can benefit a team.

It paid off when Joe Lisicky grounded to second for the first run. Ryan Schmidt who was running for Snyder later came home on an Owen Fischl single.

Those two runs were all the Zephs needed.

O’Boyle said the weekend proved good pithing and defense can overcome a lot. That was true in their game against Peters Township.

“We got out hit, but we outplayed them,” said O’Boyle.

Simply put, their pithing was better, said O’Boyle. The Indians surrendered six walks, while the Zephyrs only issued two.

They also made some good plays on defense, knocking down ball in the infield to keep runners from scoring.

“We pitched better and we did the little things right,” said O’Boyle.