Parkland High School Baseball

The Parkland Trojans advanced to the semifinals of the 4A District XI playoffs with a convincing 10-2 victory over Freedom.  The Trojans put runners on base in every inning of the game and collected at least one base hit in each inning of the game for a team total of ten base hits, four walks, and 10 runs scored.  Starting pitcher Gabe Mosser earned his 8th win of the season going six innings on the mound allowing one run on four base hits and no walks.  Mosser struck out 12 batters.  Mosser retired the first six batters of the game before Freedom got consecutive base hits to start the 3rd inning.  Mosser got out of that 3rd inning jam by getting the next three batters out, including two by strikeout. 

Parkland batters took advantage of shaky Freedom pitching at the start of the game with the first two Trojan batters reaching base on eight consecutive balls.  With Alex Flynn (0-for-2, two BB, run) and Jeff Strisovsky (2-for-3, BB, 2 RBI, 2 runs) on base, Chris Rabasco (2-for-3, BB, RBI, 2 runs) hit a line drive to centerfield for an RBI single to put Parkland up by a score of 1-0.  Zach Miiller (1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, run) followed with an RBI groundout and Rabasco then scored when Zach Merkle reached base on an error to give Parkland a 3-0 lead after the first inning of play.

The score remained the same until the 4th inning when the Trojans started a two-out rally after the first two batters of the inning made outs.  Justin Afflerbach (3-for-3, 2 runs) got things going with a single, Brad Vasilik (2-for-2, sac bunt, 2 runs) followed with another single to put runners on the corners.  A double steal scored Afflerbach and an RBI single by Strisovsky scored Vasilik to increase Parkland's lead to 5-0.  Freedom got on the board with a single run in the 5th inning, scoring a runner from third base on a wild pitch. 

The first pitch of the bottom of the 5th inning was sent over the left field fence when Miiller hit a solo homerun to make the score 6-1.  Parkland put up another four runs in the 6th inning when Afflerbach and Vasilik started another rally be reaching base again on back-to-back singles.  Strisovsky hit another RBI single to plate Afflerbach.  Vasilik and Strisovsky would later score on a Freedom error on a ground ball off the bat of Miiller, and Rabasco then scored the final run of the game after reaching base on a walk and coming around to score on a Kevin Jones (0-for-0, sac fly, RBI) sacrifice fly to give Parkland a 10-1 lead.  Rabasco and Rhett Jacoby pitched the 7th inning to finish the game.  Rabasco struck out one, but walked the bases loaded and allowed Freedom to score its second run of the game before giving way to Jacoby who quickly got the last two outs of the game on five pitches, including one by strikeout, to end the game at a score of 10-2.