Parkland High School Baseball

The Parkland Trojans needed extra innings to improve their record to 4-0 and send visiting Freedom to their first loss of the season.  After taking a 5-3 lead into the 7th inning, the Trojans could not hold the lead and Freedom scored two runs in the top of the 7th to tie the game at 5-5.  Parkland's third pitcher of the day, Tyler Duff, put Freedom batters down in order in the top of the 8th.  In the bottom of the 8th, Parkland loaded the based on singles by Brad Vasilik and Damin Muth, followed by an intentional walk to Chris Rabasco.  An error by Freedom's third baseman on a ground ball off the bat of Tyler Graeff allowed the winning run to score and end the game.

Junior pitcher Gabe Mosser got the start on the mound today and worked 5 effective innings, allowing two runs on five hits, along with five strikeouts and no walks.  Rabasco came on in relief in the 6th inning and pitched 1+ innings, allowing two runs with one strikeout before handing the ball to Duff.  Duff worked the 7th and 8th innings to get the win and improve his record to 2-0.  

After giving Freedom a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 6th, Parkland took advantage of Freedom miscues along with timely hitting and two sacrifice fly outs to score four runs and take a 5-3 lead into the 7th inning.  At the plate, the Trojans were led by Vasilik (3-5, R), Muth (2-4, RBI, SF), and Rabasco (2-4, R, IBB).  Five other Trojan batters each added singles; Graeff (1-5, RBI), Jordan Jones (1-3, R, BB, RBI), Adam Schneck (1-2, R, HBP, sac bunt), Zach Merkle (1-3, R), and Justin Afflerbach (1-4, R).  Rhett Jacoby added a pinch hit sacrifice fly.

Joe Abeln had an outstanding opening weekend in Patriot League action to help the Mountain Hawks to a split of their four-game series at rival Lafayette. He batted .615 (8-for-13) for the weekend with two doubles, a triple, three runs scored and seven RBIs in the four-game set. Abeln also walked five times to record a .722 on-base percentage for the weekend. He stood second among all players in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging on the opening League weekend, and tied for the top spot with seven RBIs and five walks. Abeln went 4-for-4 with a double, triple and four RBIs to help lead Lehigh to a 7-4 win in the series opener. He also went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs as Lehigh capped the weekend with an 8-0 victory. Abeln batted .625 (10-of-16) in all games last week, including a 2-for-3 effort with a run and an RBI against Temple on Wednesday. He is named Patriot League Player of the Week for the first time, and is the third Mountain Hawk to claim the honor this year.