Matt Snyder’s arm didn’t show any signs of rust as he mowed down Allen’s hitters to kick off the St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley Baseball Tournament with a win for Whitehall.

Whitehall began pool play against Allen on Monday at Sammy Balliet Stadium with Snyder getting the ball in the early game. He responded with a sizzling six-inning performance, allowing just two hits and striking out five en route to the 2-1 victory.

Snyder said that his superb outing was simply a matter of finding the strike zone.

“I threw strikes and it kind of came together,” said Snyder.

With such a long layoff since the last time they had any competition, Snyder didn’t think the pitchers had any real advantage over the hitters. He said that hitters were getting their work in during the summer, and he just came in with the mindset to pound the strike zone.

He also relied on his off-speed pitches to keep them off balance.

“I was able to throw my breaking ball for strikes throughout most of the game,” said Snyder who used that pitch to set up his fastball. “When I got my breaking ball in the strike zone, it threw them off balance, and the fastball they would pop up. They would be behind it, and they would pop it up.”

Head coach Shaun O’Boyle said that Snyder’s control was the key factor that allowed Whitehall to get off to the 1-0 start in pool play. He allowed just one walk in his six innings of work.

“He was making them hit [the ball], and that was the biggest thing,” said O’Boyle.

Snyder kept the ball around the plate, and used his off-speed pitch effectively to tie up the Canaries all afternoon.

“His off-speed pitches made his fastball five miles-per-hour faster,” said O’Boyle who watched him use his heater to offset his breaking stuff for excellent results.

He had to work out a bit of trouble in the fifth, surrounding a one-out double, with the runner advancing to third on a passed ball. But he followed that with a strikeout, and then got the next batter to pop out to end the inning.

Snyder’s walk to start the bottom of the fifth proved to be the winning run as courtesy runner Ryan Hausman came into score after Austin Miller laced a double down the right field line for the game-winning RBI.

Snyder said that he just had to be patient at the plate. He didn’t want to expand the strike zone by swinging at stuff off the plate, and that patience earned him a free pass.

Snyder said that he was excited to get the ball for the opening game for Whitehall. He said it’s always special to get the nod and take the bump for his team.

“It was really special, especially now since our season got canceled,” said Snyder.

Allen mounted a threat in the top of the seventh. Zackary Hartman came in to close out the game, and got the first out on a nice play by Shane Fillman on a grounder up the middle. After an error, Hartman got the next batter on strikes. A walk put two runners on, and when the ball skittered by the catcher, the base runner at first tried to advance, but hesitated, getting hung up between first and second. It looked like Allen looked would run itself out of the threat, but Whitehall couldn’t execute the tag and the Canaries had runners at second and third with two outs. A wild pitch cut the lead in half, but Hartman got the next batter to whiff, ending the game.

O’Boyle said that Hartman kept focused, working through some adversity to get the save.

Allen’s starting pitcher was impressive as well, allowing just two earned runs during his five innings of work. The southpaw also did his share of keeping the Zephyrs off balance.

Whitehall got on the board in the first inning with Ayden Dunbar drawing a walk. He scored on a double by Joe Lisicky whose hit began a torrid night at the plate for the senior.

The win gave them a head of steam heading into the next game, and also put them in tie atop the Coplay Regional with Parkland.