Allentown, PA — By Kyle Craig | For lehighvalleylive.com Nazareth Area High School’s baseball team was thrilled with the conditions on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Park. The temperature and the venue were ideal. The Blue Eagles, however, had one note. “In the first inning when our guys came back to the dugout, they were saying that with the shadows in the outfield, it was really hard to pick up the ball,” Nazareth coach Bryan Wolf said. When the sun set, the Blue Eagles were ready to hit. Nazareth, ranked seventh in the area by lehighvalleylive.com, turned six hits into six runs in the second inning and cruised to a 9-1 victory over Easton in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Northampton Division contest. Senior Ryan Petruska got the party going by leading off the top of the second with a standup triple that rolled to the wall in right-center field. Petruska scored on an error as Easton (4-7 overall, 1-5 division) had a miscue while the catcher was returning the ball to the pitcher. Carson Steingall, a sophomore, drew a walk, and senior Chase Biedermann, junior Ryan Lichtenberger and sophomore Chase Brown followed with singles as Nazareth (8-4, 4-1) built a 3-0 lead. “As that sun went down a little bit, our guys locked in,” Wolf said. “We were hitting opposite-field shots, which is good because it tells me our guys were staying on the ball. We passed it from one guy to the next to the next. That’s the name of the game here: just get the next guy up. They all did a very good job of that.” Sophomore Ethan Strawn cracked a double to right-center field to score Lichtenberger. Sophomore TJ Dally followed with a sacrifice fly, and Bobby Grzenda, another sophomore, capped the outburst with an RBI knock through the left side of the infield, pushing the lead to 6-0. “In that second inning, we just kept hitting ... The momentum really carried us through,” Petruska said. “We put up a six spot, and I think from there, we all settled in and that determined the game.” That was more than enough support for starting pitcher Zak Novak. The senior pitched 5 innings, striking out 11 while surrendering three hits, two walks and an unearned run. “That six runs in the second inning was huge, especially for my confidence and especially for our confidence for the rest of the game,” Novak said. “We just felt like we kept having good at-bats.” Novak registered the first two outs of the bottom of the fifth inning via Ks but ran into trouble as Easton seniors Cole Ordway and Chase Shollenberger reached base via an infield single and a pop fly that dropped over the second baseman, respectively. A walk loaded the bases before Novak ended his outing by fanning a batter for the third out. “Novak is just a bulldog when he goes out there. He’s always ready to go; he’s always locked in, in the zone,” Wolf said. “... Novak being a wrestler, he carried that wrestling rivalry a little bit into the baseball game. We didn’t really help him out in that fifth inning, but he helped himself out.” Eleven strikeouts is a career-high for the right-hander. “I would say everything,” Novak answered when asked what was working on the mound. “... The fastball was jumping. It felt good. I felt like I was attacking the zone. I felt confident. I feel like I had a touch for everything.” “Every year that we get here, I feel like the IronPigs make the venue nicer and nicer. You can’t ask for anything better,” Wolf said. “The scoreboard said 86 degrees at game time. That’s phenomenal. We’ve played here in games where I swear it was 35 degrees ... Our guys really enjoy this ... It’s a special moment for all the kids.” “It’s a pleasure to play here,” Novak said. “Yesterday’s practice, you could feel the energy. It’s just a different game, even though it’s a regular-season game. It’s against a division rival, so that’s already chippy and exciting. But playing at Coca-Cola Park is even more exciting, and you can see it.” Nazareth added a run in the third inning when Chase Biedermann started the frame by getting plunked and eventually scored on a wild pitch. The Blue Eagles’ lead swelled to 9-1 in the fourth inning. Carson Steingall powered an RBI triple over the head of the center fielder to score Petruska. He later scored on an error as Easton tried to throw out Biedermann stealing second. In the bottom of the second, Easton senior Max Martenis reached via catcher’s interference and was plated by a sacrifice fly from his brother, sophomore Zack Martenis, to account for the Red Rovers’ run. Grzenda pitched 2 innings of hitless relief for the Blue Eagles, who navigated some early turbulence this spring while starting five sophomores. “We’ve gone through some growing pains,” Wolf said. “I always tell them that we learn more from losses than we do wins. We had a really good talk after that extra-inning loss to Liberty (on Tuesday). The guys responded. It was great to see the senior leadership.” “We had four tough losses. But, as a team, we feel good,” Petruska added. “We have confidence in all our guys. I think if we can execute and do what we did today, we’ll be in good shape.”