This early in the baseball season, teams are still attempting to find themselves in more ways than one. With two games under their belts, Palmerton used its experience from its first two contests to jump out to an early lead and eventually take the 10-0 decision in six frames of play over nonleague opponent Panther Valley.

The Panthers (0-1), on the other hand, took the field for the first time this season at the Bombers' home field and it showed."We definitely had the advantage because this was their first game," Palmerton head coach Mike Svetik said. "We've had some great pitching so far and today was another example."Blue Bomber senior Zach Svetik threw one-hit ball through five frames for the winners, including six strikeouts and three walks, before reliever Brody Boehler came on in the sixth to finish off the gem. Despite yielding a hit to the Panthers, Boehler forced three groundouts to finish the abridged outing.The second frame proved to be the big offensive thrust that the winners needed, as Palmerton sent 10 batters to the plate.Back-to-back singles by senior Zach Buck and Garrett Perschy began the frame, and Tyler King walked to load the bases. With two outs, Jon Schwartz hit a two-RBI single.The Panthers gave up two walks before Kole Rodrigues matched Schwartz with another two-run single to balloon the lead to 6-0 after two."It's nice to see that the hitting is coming around, because that was a concern to me," Svetik said. "So far this year, we had a few scoreless games and today, it was nice to see. I'm less concerned, but we still need to focus and maintain that level."Perschy scored again in the third, after a lead-off double eventually saw courtesy runner Eric Baumgardt score on a passed ball.In the sixth inning, Toby Sander's RBI-triple closed out the game for the winners."They're a tough team," Sander said. "But we really needed this game to get our momentum moving, especially going into Northwestern and Catty, who are two really good teams.""The kids had some jitters today," Panther Valley head coach Rich Evanko said. "They were taking a lot of pitches, and I thought our pitchers gave up too many walks and Palmerton is a really good ball club. They set the tone right at the top and they keep the pressure on you."PANTHER TRACKS... The Panthers' two hits in the contest came on a double from Matt Hudicka in the sixth inning, and a single to Darren Goida in the first.TOBY, OR NOT TOBY... Senior Toby Sander had a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs, adding, "We really needed this win to keep the momentum going in the right direction, and after the Lehighton loss, we've been moving along nicely."ZACH ATTACK... Winning pitcher Zach Svetik immediately retreated to the trainer's room to begin icing his shoulder after being relieved at the end of the fifth. In reference to the nagging injury, he said, "It felt good to get back out. I've had some setbacks each time I tried going out there. But it's feeling better and it's nice to be out there."Panther Valley 000 000 - 0 2 2Palmerton 151 012 - 10 9 0Hafer, Vavra (2), Blasko (6) and Goida; Svetik, Boehler (6) and Mooney. WP - Svetik, LP - Hafer.