Parkland High School Baseball

Meeting for the fourth time this season, the second time at Coca-Cola Park, the Parkland Trojans defeated the Whitehall Zephyrs by a score of 5-2 to win the District XI championship at Coca-Cola Park tonight.  The Trojans now advance to the PIAA State Tournament with first round action scheduled for Monday, June 3.  Although Whitehall won two of the three previous matchups, Parkland defeated Zephyr ace Jacob Wloczewski for the second time this season, including tonight to claim the District XI title.

Parkland wasted no time and scored in the first inning when Brad Vasilik (2-4, R, RBI) led off the game with a single.  After Vasilik advanced to second base on a ground out, Tyler Graeff (1-3, 2B, BB, RBI) belted a double to score Vasilik and give the Trojans a 1-0 lead.  Although Whitehall's lead off batter reached base on a walk to start their half of the first inning, the inning quickly ended on a 4-6-3 double play followed by a groundout.  The Trojans made it 2-0 in the second inning when Chris Rabasco led off the inning with a walk.  A sacrifice bunt by Adam Schneck put Rabasco in scoring position.  Rabasco eventually scored on a Vasilik RBI single.  Whitehall loaded the bases with one out in the second inning, but Parkland starting pitcher Tyler Duff limited the damage by allowing only one run to score on a sacrifice fly and then ended the threat with a strikeout. 

Two walks and an error loaded the bases for the Trojans in the 3rd inning.  Zack Merkle (1-1, 2 HBP, RBI) and Jordan Jones (1-3, RBI) each drove in a run with singles to give Parkland a 4-1 lead.  Whitehall scored an unearned run in the 3rd inning to close the gap to 4-2.  Duff worked 4 1/3 innings and although he allowed seven walks, he only allowed two hits and limited Whitehall to only one earned run.  Connor Higgins came on in relief with one out and one base runner on in the 5th inning.  Whitehall threatened to score by putting runners on second and third, but Higgins worked out of the jam with a strikeout and ground out to end the inning. 

Parkland added an important insurance run in the top of the 7th when Aidan Flynn led off with a walk.  After stealing second base, Flynn advanced to third on a Damin Muth (1-4) bunt single.  Flynn would later score on a wild pitch to give Parkland a 5-2 lead.  Whitehall's 7th inning started with a ground out and strikeout for two quick outs, but the next two batters would reach base with a walk and a single to bring the tying run to the plate.  Another single to right field by Whitehall looked like the bases would be loaded for the next Whitehall batter, but Parkland took advantage of mistakes by Whitehall base runners.  The throw from right fielder Jones to catcher Muth caused the runner to retreat back to third base, while another Whitehall runner was stuck in no-man's land between second and third.  Muth threw the ball to shortstop Rabasco. As Rabasco forced both runners to converge onto third base, the runner at third base took off for home again.  After forcing the runner to commit to home plate, Rabasco tossed the ball back to Muth for the tagout.  Although the Whitehall base runner forced the ball out of Muth's glove by plowing into Muth, the base runner was ejected from the game and called out for not sliding.  This final out of the game gave the Trojans a 5-2 victory and the District XI championship.

Duff earned his eighth win of the season to improve to 8-0, while Higgins worked 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief, allowing two hits and three walks, while striking out four.  Higgins earned his second save of the season.