Parkland High School defeats Emmaus 4-3 to win the Lehigh Valley Conference baseball title

COPLAY | Dan Klem dove to his right, gloved a hard ground ball, jumped to his feet and fired a strike across the diamond for the final out.

Parkland High School baseball coach Tony Galucy called it fitting that Klem, his senior shortstop who is a four-year starter and captain, was the hero of the Trojans' Lehigh Valley Conference championship game win.  Third-seeded Parkland opened a four-run lead and held on to knock off No. 1 Emmaus 4-3 Friday at Sammy Balliet Stadium.

The conference title is the third in a row for the Trojans, who improved to 16-6 entering next week's District 11 tournament.  What was an anti-climatic contest for five innings turned into a drama-fest for the final three outs.

Emmaus (17-3) scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning and put runners on second and third with two outs. No. 2 hitter Kyle Gable then cracked a hard ground ball into the hole at shortstop. Klem made an outstanding diving stab and then finished the play with a strong, accurate throw to get the speedy Gable by a step.  Game over.

"My first thought was to knock it down to stop the winning run from scoring," said Klem, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI batting out of the cleanup spot. "But once I got it cleanly and got up, I just thought, 'what the heck?'

"It's fitting because the last time we played Emmaus, I made two key errors and we lost the game late. So this is a heck of a feeling."

Galucy was especially proud of a player he described as "humble" and an all-around "great kid."   "That was a special play," the coach called it.

Senior Andrew Kulp started for the Trojans and was close to unhittable for five innings. Pitching with a 4-0 lead, he allowed a long fly ball to center field in the sixth inning that Ryan Korp struggled to pick up in the sun. Emmaus' No. 4 batter Dan Johnson ended up circling the bases for a two-run homer.

Kulp, the LVC's first-team pitcher, regrouped and recorded the first out in the seventh, then Matt Smith came in to get a strikeout and the groundout to shortstop after the Green Hornets' third run scored on a wild pitch.

"I had a lot of confidence in 'Squirt' (Smith)," Kulp said. "He pitched well against Emmaus last time. Yeah, I was a little nervous but coach made the right call because I was getting tired."   Klem and Mike Tenaglia both had two hits and an RBI for Parkland. Andy Brandstetter also contributed two singles.   Johnson led Emmaus with two hits, including the homer. Joe Groh started for the Green Hornets and suffered the defeat.

"The kid (Klem) made a great play," Emmaus coach John Schreiner said. "What are you going to do? It was a great game and congratulations to Parkland. They made the plays they had to."