Parkland High School Baseball

Runs were very hard to come by in a tight first round EPC playoff matchup between the Parkland Trojans and the Pocono Mountain East Cardinals.  Parkland senior Jeff Strisovsky not only got the big hit in the bottom of the 7^th inning, but he also took a run away from the Cardinals with his glove.  The Trojans and Cardinals exchanged no-hit baseball and a couple of outstanding defensive plays through the first 3 innings of play.  After the Trojans put runs on the board in the 5^th and 6^th innings to take a 3-1 lead into the 7^th inning, the Cardinals rallied in the top of the 7^th inning to tie the game at 3-3.  In the bottom of the 7^th Andrew Roth led off with a single.  Strisovsky then came to the plate and showed bunt, but pulled the bat back and laced a double over the left fielder’s head.  The speedy Roth raced home from first base and the Trojans mobbed Strisovsky on the infield to celebrate their dramatic 4-3 walk off victory.  The Trojans are now set to face Easton in the EPC semi-finals slated for 7:15 PM on Wednesday at Hackett Park in Easton.

Connor Higgins pitched a no-hitter through five innings of play while striking out seven.  A Cardinal lead-off walk in the 4^th inning followed by a sacrifice bunt and ground out put a runner on third base with two outs.  The next Cardinal batter drove a line drive down the right field line that was headed to the right field corner.  What looked like an easy run that would have put the Cardinals up 1-0, instead the ball was snagged by a diving Strisovsky to end the inning and keep the Cardinals off the board. 

Chris Rabasco (2-3) broke up the no-hitter with the first hit of the game in the bottom of the 4^th inning.  Tyler Bruno (1-3) followed with a single to put runners on first and second with one out.  Evan McAndrew (1-3, RBI) then drove a fly ball to deep center field that was caught on the run by the Cardinal defender.  Rabasco tagged and headed for third base, but the Cardinals won the appeal and ended the inning as Rabasco was called out for leaving the base early.

In the 5^th inning, the Trojans finally broke the scoreless deadlock when Cullan Wadsworth (0-1, 2BB) walked and then Rhett Jacoby (1-3, 3B, R, RBI) drove a ball to the fence in centerfield for a triple to score Wadsworth.  Roth (2-3, R, RBI) then followed with an RBI single up the middle to score Jacoby. 

With a 2-0 Trojan lead, the Cardinals started the 6^th inning with back-to-back singles.  After a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third base, a ground ball out allowed the Cardinals to score their first run of the game and cut the Parkland lead to 2-1.  Higgins worked out of further damage and finished with 6 innings of work allowing one run on two hits and five walks. 

The Trojans tacked on another run in the 6^th inning when Justin Afflerbach (1-3) and Rabasco led off with back-to-back singles.  McAndrew then hit an RBI single to score pinch runner EJ Brandt. 

With a 3-1 lead, McAndrew took the mound in the 7^th in relief of Higgins.  Two infield singles, including a bunt single with a base runner on third base, allowed the Cardinals to close the gap to 3-2.  With one out in the inning and a runner on first base, Rabasco came on to relieve McAndrew.  A stolen base and fly out put a runner on third base with two outs.  A single then scored another Cardinal run that tied the game at 3-3.  McAndrew worked 1/3 of an inning allowing two runs on two hits, while Rabasco worked 2/3 of an inning for the win allowing one hit and striking out one.  With the game tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the 7^th inning, Roth put a nice swing on a 1-1 count curveball for a single to left field that set up the game winning heroics of Strisovsky (1-4, 2B, GW RBI).