Parkland High School Baseball

The JV Trojans and Nazareth battled to a 1-1 tie through 5 innings of play in a pitchers dual as both pitchers worked in and out of jams.  Starting pitcher Michael Jenkins (7IP, 2R, 6 H, 7 SO, 2 BB, 1 HB) worked a complete game with seven strikeouts for the victory as he kept Parkland in the game, allowing the offense to come through in the 6th inning.

With one out in the 1st inning, Kyle Novobilski (1-2, 2R, 3b, RBI, 2 BB) walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch.  With two outs, Kyle Friebolin (1-2, R, 2 RBI, 2 BB) hit a line drive single to left field to score Novobilski and give Parkland a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the 3rd inning, Nazareth put two runners on first and second with a walk and infield single.  Nazareth attempted a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, but Jenkins made a nice defensive play, bare handing the bunted ball to get the force out at third base.  Jenkins then induced a ground ball for an inning ending double play to end the Nazareth threat.  Novobilski hit a one-out triple in the 3rd inning, but he would be stranded. 

In the 4th inning, the Blue Eagles scored their first run of the game with a lead off triple, followed by a single to make it 1-1. The scored reamined the same until the 6th inning.  Nazareth scored a run in the 6th, when a lead off single followed by a stolen base and ground out put a runner on third base with one out. After a strikeout for the second out, a balk scored the run to give Nazareth the 2-1 lead.  Jenkins ended the inning with another strikeout.

Down 2-1 in the bottom of the 6th inning, Matt Mellinger (0-3, R, RBI, BB) got things going with a lead off walk.  Ben Trinkle (0-0, sac, BB, HBP) put down a perfect bunt to advance Mellinger into scoring position.  Braedan Duff (1-3, R, RBI) singled to right field to score Mellinger and tie the game at 2-2.  Harsha Bollu (0-2, R, BB) walked, which knocked out Nazareth's starting pitcher.  EJ Brandt (0-1, R, BB) followed with another walk to load the bases, and an RBI walk by Novobilski put the Trojans ahead by a score of 3-2.  Ethan Imler (2-4, R, 2 RBI) then singled to left to drive in a run and give Parkland the 4-2 lead.  With bases still loaded, Friebolin collected another Trojan RBI walk.  Austin Mueller (1-3, 2 RBI, BB) drove in two runs with a 2-RBI single.  Still not finished, Mellinger knocked in a run with an RBI ground out for the 8-2 Trojan lead after six innings of play.  Jenkins finished off the combeback victory with a strong 7th inning, striking out the last batter of the game.