Parkland High School Baseball

The Parkland Trojans defeated Northampton tonight for their eighth consecutive win to improve their record to 16-2. Tyler Duff had another strong performance on the mound pitching another complete game to lead the Trojans to the 4-1 victory. Duff pitched no-hit ball until the lead off batter for Northampton in the 5th inning reached base with a single. Although the next two Nortampton batters would reach to load the bases with no outs in the 5th, Duff worked himself out of the jam only allowing one run to score on a ground out.  Duff allowed only three hits, two walks, and struck out four. Duff improved his record to 5-0 and with a 0.98 ERA, Duff is one of three regular Parkland pitchers with an ERA below 1.00.

Parkland scored its first run in the 1st inning when Brad Vasilik (4-4, 3 runs) reached base on an error and later scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by Damin Muth (1-3, SF, 2 RBI). Parkland added two more runs in the 3rd inning. With two out and the bases empty, Vasilik reached on a bunt single and Justin Afflerbach (1-3, BB, run) singled to put runners on the corners. Muth then drove in his second run of the game with the RBI single and Tyler Graeff (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) scored Afflerbach on an RBI ground-rule double. Graeff added another RBI hit in the 5th inning when he singled home Vasilik who had reached base earlier in the inning on a single, giving the Trojans a 4-0 lead. Zack Merkle (1-3) added a single to the Parkland offense. After Northampton scored its only run of the game in the 5th inning, Duff took control and retired the next seven batters in a row to cruise the Trojans to victory.