Parkland High School Baseball

The Parkland Trojans baseball team accomplished what no other Class 4A team has ever done in Pennsylvania by winning three consecutive District XI championships with a 4-3 dramatic victory over Easton in tonight’s 2015 championship game at Coca-Cola Park.  With the game tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the 7^th inning, senior Jeff Strisovsky laced a one-out line drive single to centerfield that scored Andrew Roth from second base to send the Trojans into a frenzy and bring home Parkland’s third District trophy in as many years.  This was Strisovsky’s second walk-off base hit during Parkland’s postseason playoff run.

The District XI championship game got going right from the first pitch of the game off the arm of Parkland starter Connor Higgins.  Easton’s lead off hitter dropped the first pitch down for a bunt single.  The next batter sacrifice bunted the runner over to second base.  After Higgins walked the next two batters to load the bases with one out, the District championship game was off and running.  However, as quickly as the Red Rovers loaded the bases in the first inning, the Trojan defense just as quickly snuffed out the rally when a ground ball up the middle was turned into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. 

The Trojans took the momentum from that double play and answered by scoring two runs in the bottom half of the inning.  After two consecutive one-out walks to Justin Afflerbach (0-1, BB, sac, R) and Chris Rabasco (0-2, BB, R), Tyler Bruno (1-3, 2B, RBI) doubled down the first base line to score Afflerbach.  Evan McAndrew (0-2, sac fly, RBI) then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Rabasco and give the Trojans a 2-0 lead after the first inning of play.

Higgins settled down nicely after the first inning setting down the Red Rovers in 1-2-3 fashion in both the second and third innings.  Higgins retired eight batters in a row before Easton put a runner on base with a one-out single in the 4^th inning.  Higgins struck out three in the 5th inning working around a one-out double in that inning.  The Trojans added a run in the 4^th inning when they hit three consecutive two-out singles.  Rhett Jacoby (1-3, R) and Roth (2-3, 2B, R) started the two-out rally with singles.  Dan Zaccaro (1-2, RBI), swinging the bat for the first time after missing 14 games due to a thumb injury, singled up the middle to score Jacoby and increase Parkland’s lead to 3-0. 

Just when Higgins looked to be in cruise control through five innings of play, the Easton Red Rovers showed why they were playing in the district final game.  With just five pitches thrown in the 6^th inning, Easton scored two runs to close the gap to 3-2 and the tying run was suddenly standing on third base with no outs.  After two consecutive singles to start the 6^th inning, the next Easton batter tripled to deep left-center to plate their first two runs of the game.  After getting the next two batters to ground out with the drawn in Trojan infield, Higgins looked in good shape to get out of the inning with the lead intact and strand the tying run on third base.  A wild pitch allowed the runner to score from third base and the game was tied 3-3.

After the Trojan bats went down quietly in the bottom of the 6^th inning, Higgins collected another 1-2-3 inning by setting down the Red Rovers in order in the top of the 7^th inning.  Leading off the bottom of the 7^th inning, Roth could not have picked a better time to get his first extra base hit of his varsity career.  Roth drove a hard ground ball down the third base line for a double, and with the Trojan’s fastest runner standing on second base with no outs, everyone began to feel the excitement in anticipation of what might be possible.  When Easton recorded out number one of the inning on a strikeout, the stage was set for Strisovsky (2-4, RBI).  With a 0-1 count, Strisovsky drove a line drive to centerfield and Roth easily scored from second base for the 4-3 walk-off victory and give the Trojans the 2015 District XI championship. 

Parkland’s offense was led by Strisovsky and Roth who each collected two base hits.  On the mound, Higgins allowed three runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out six, for the complete game victory.  Parkland will now prepare for the first round of state playoffs set to begin Monday June 1, 2015.