This season, Whitehall head baseball coach Eric Schmitt expects his team to be contenders in the East Penn Conference Lehigh County Division.

The Zephyrs entered the season coming off a District 11 Class 5A championship, downing Pocono Mountain East, 6-2, for the title. Whitehall earlier beat Southern Lehigh, 5-4, in the semifinals.

From there, the Zephyrs beat Radnor, 5-1, in the opening round of the state playoffs before they ended their season with a 10-0 loss to Governor Mifflin in the second round.

Winning their first district title since 2017, Schmitt wants to raise the bar.

“Expectations will be much higher,” stressed Schmitt. “We have tried to instill in the players that we will have lots of people circling our name on their calendars this spring. We believe our kids are prepared.”

The Zephyrs have a solid core returning with senior outfielder/catcher Tyler Reichenbach, senior catcher-infielder Konnor Moyer, senior third baseman Zack Schaedel, senior pitcher/infielder Ryan Lindenmuth, junior pitcher/outfielder Jack Lloyd, junior outfielder Seth Hoderewski, and junior infielder Tyler Sanders.

Hoderewski was leading the team with a .391 average also in RBIs (nine), and hits (nine). Schaedel was at .312, and Reichenbach was at .300.

On the mound, junior Nik Christman is 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA, Lindenmuth was 1-1, 4.00, and Lloyd was 1-0, 2,74.

However, the Zephyrs have been looking for consistency all season. They began this week with an overall 4-3 record and did win the last two contests, a 12-2 romp over Allen and a 11-8, eight-inning victory over Stroudsburg.

Hoderewski is confident he and his team can find their niche.

“Overall, we hit a little shaky stretch,” said Hoderewski. “We had a couple of injuries and bounced back. We have been working every day.

“For me, I haven’t really done a whole lot considering it was a long basketball season. But I made the adjustment, and got back into the baseball groove. It felt good to be back.”

Schmitt also believes his team can stay on track.

“We had a couple of early clunkers,” said Schmitt. “Our pitching staff has rallied from early injuries. Our offense has been consistent, but unlucky. If we keep barreling baseballs the way we are, we will be fine.