Parkland High School Baseball

The formula for how the 2014 Parkland Trojans became the LVC & District XI champions involved dominant pitching and an offense that found ways to get on base and get that key hit at the right time. For the season, the Trojan pitching staff had a team ERA of 1.31 and 10 shutout victories. Although the team batting average of .285 is not one you expect from champions, the team batting average with runners in scoring position was .324, their on-base percentage was over .400, and the Trojans regularly found ways to manufacture runs, get that clutch hit when needed, and make opponents pay for their errors. In today's opening round of the 2014 PIAA State Playoffs, pieces of that formula were missing and five Parkland errors were too much to overcome as the Trojans lost to Spring-Ford by a score of 2-1.

Starting pitcher Gabe Mosser and reliever Rhett Jacoby provided the good pitching. Mosser went 4+ innings allowing two runs (one earned) on two base hits with two walks. Mosser also had 9 strikeouts. Spring-Ford's one earned run came in the 2nd inning on a walk followed by a double. Jacoby pitched three scoreless innings striking out two while allowing two hits and one walk. Jacoby came on in the 5th with the Trojans down by a score of 2-0 after Parkland had committed three errors in the inning, leading to a Spring-Ford run.  Jacoby got the Trojans out of that jam and limited the damage.

Spring-Ford's lead off hitter in the 5th inning singled and advanced to second base when the ball got by the outfielder. The next two Spring-Ford batters both bunted and both times the bunts were misplayed. The second bunt was a squeeze play that plated Spring-Ford's second run. After those three errors and with no outs in the inning and runners on first and second base, Jacoby took the mound in relief. Jacoby got Parkland out of the inning without any further damage by striking out one and getting an inning ending double play. A traditional double play was attempted when a ground ball to second baseman Alex Flynn was flipped to shortstop Chris Rabasco for the force out, but the batter beat the throw to first base. At the same time, the runner that was on second base rounded third during the play attempting to score. The throw from first baseman Mosser to the plate was in time as catcher Zach Merkle tagged out the runner for the final out of the 5th inning.

Getting out of that 5th inning gave the Trojans some life in the bottom of the 5th inning even though the first two batters of the inning made outs. With two outs and no one on base in the 5th, Flynn (1-for-2, triple, 2 BB, run) and Jeff Strisovskly earned back-to-back base-on-balls. Rabasco (1-for-3, RBI) then hit a line drive over the second baseman's head for an RBI single to score Flynn and put Parkland on the scoreboard. Zach Miiller was then awarded first base due to catcher's obstruction to load the bases. With Spring-Ford's pitcher struggling to throw strikes, Parkland came close to forcing in the tying run with another walk with Merkle (1-for-2, BB) at the plate, but the close call did not go Parkland's way and a ground out eventually ended the Trojan threat.

The 5th inning was not the first time the Trojans had an opportunity to score. In the 1st inning, Flynn reached base on a walk and advanced to third base, but was stranded there. A lead off single by Merkle in the 2nd inning was quickly erased with a flyout and an inning-ending double play. In the 3rd inning, Flynn hit a two-out triple to deep centerfield, but Flynn would be stranded at third base for the second time in the game. Parkland had runners on first and second base in the 4th inning with one out, but the key hits were missing from today's game. The Trojans could not get anything going in the 6th inning and were retired in order in the 7th inning to end the game and end what was a terrific season for the 2014 Parkland Trojans.