Parkland High School Baseball

Seven innings was not enough as two of the top teams in the Lehigh Valley Conference battled to a 2-2 tie after seven innings of play in the LVC semi-final match-up between Parkland and Whitehall at Hackett Park in Easton.  Parkland's starting pitcher Connor Higgins and Whitehall pitcher Jeff Charles both had strong outings on the mound.  Higgins worked six innings, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk, with eight strikeouts.  Parkland batters had seven base hits in the game with seven of the nine hitters in the lineup each collecting one hit apiece.

Higgins retired Whitehall in order in the 1st inning, including two by strikeout.  In the bottom of the 1st inning, Parkland jumped out to an early lead when Jeff Strisovsky (1-for-4, 2B, 2 runs) hit a one-out double deep to right field.  Chris Rabasco (1-for-3, BB, RBI) then followed with an RBI single to score Strisovsky and give Parkland a 1-0 lead after one inning of play.  Whitehall quickly tied the game at 1-1 scoring in the top of the 2nd inning with two base hits.  After Rabasco's RBI hit in the 1st inning, Whitehall's Charles retired the next nine Trojan batters in a row until he hit a batter in the 4th inning. 

Whitehall took the lead 2-1 in the 4th inning on a solo homerun.  After two quick outs in the bottom of the 5th inning, Gabe Mosser (1-for-3) got things going with a single.  After a Whitehall error put runners on first and second with two outs, Brad Vasilik (1-for-3, RBI) drove a line drive to right field for an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.  Whitehall's Charles then took control again by retiring the next nine Trojans batters in a row again before Alex Flynn (1-for-4) singled in the bottom of the 8th inning. 

Relief pitcher Alex Flynn took over for Higgins to start the 7th inning.  Flynn worked the rest of the game into extra innings for three innings of work to earn the win.  Flynn pitched three scoreless innings of relief allowing three base hits and one walk while striking out two.  After two quick outs in the 7th inning, Flynn worked himself out of trouble after allowing two consecutive hits that put the go-ahead run on third base, but Flynn would get the inning ending strikeout to end the threat.  Whitehall again threatened in the 9th inning with runners on the corners with one out, but a ground ball double play got the Trojans out of that jam.

In the bottom of the 9th inning with the score still knotted at 2-2, Strisovsky led off the inning and reached base on an error that also allowed him to advance to second base.  After an intentional walk to Rabasco and a Zach Miiller (1-for-3) bunt single, the bases were loaded with no outs.  With the Whitehall infield drawn-in, Zach Merkle (1-for-4, RBI) picked the perfect time to contribute his base hit when he bounced the first pitch over the head of the second baseman to score Strisovsky for the winning run and walk-off victory.  The win sends Parkland to the LVC Championshp game to be played tomorrow against Emmaus.