Parkland High School Baseball

Both varsity and JV teams traveled to Hazleton today to take on the Cougars.  After two scoreless innings of play in the varsity game, Nick Rabasco (4-4, 2B, 2-Run HR, 2 R, 2 RBI) hit a 2-run homerun in the third inning to put the Trojans up 2-0.  Starting pitcher Brian Zesch blanked Hazleton through four innings.  Hazleton tied the score 2-2 in the 5^th inning after taking advantage of two Parkland fielding errors.  Zesch had an excellent outing on the mound with 9 strikeouts.  Hazleton took a 3-2 lead in the 6^th inning, but the Trojans rallied in the top half of the 7^th inning. After loading the bases with one out, Tyler Graeff drove in the tying run on an RBI groundout.  Chris Rabasco (1-3, R, 2 RBI, BB) then followed with a 2-RBI single to give the Trojans a 5-3 lead.  Cody Callahan (2-4, RBI) then singled in a run to increase the lead to 6-3.  Relief pitcher Tyler Duff worked two innings, striking out one and allowing only one hit.  Duff worked a quick 7^th inning to complete the Trojan comeback and 6-3 victory.  Other hits came from Jacob Rosenblatt (1-3) and Kyle Stinner (1-2, R).

The JV Trojans had their second consecutive shutout victory, beating the Hazleton Cougars 10-0 in a 5-inning game.  Starting pitcher Connor Higgins worked four innings allowing only one hit while striking out six batters.  Relief pitcher Jeff Strisovsky worked the final inning and had two strikeouts.  Offensively, Parkland was led by Alex Flynn who was 2-for-2 with a double and four RBI’s, Ryan Dumbach was 1-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI, and Justin Afflerbach was 1-for-2 with 2 runs scored and two RBI’s.

Matt Hurd pitched 4 innings of 1-hit ball with five strikeouts and Jeff Kurtz pitched a perfect inning in relief with two strikeouts to lead the Trojans to a 10-0 victory over Dieruff in a mercy-rule shortened game.   Parkland took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Damin Muth (1-2, 3B, 2 R, BB)  triple followed by an RBI single by Tyler Graeff (2-3, 2B, R, 3 RBI).   The Trojans then added six runs in the 2nd inning, which included an RBI triple by Brian Zesch (2-2, 3B, 2 R, RBI, BB), an RBI double by Tim Baranek (1-3, 2B, R, RBI), an RBI groundout by Graeff, and RBI single by Chris Rabasco (1-3, RBI).  Other hits came from Kyle Stinner and Cody Callahan.  Brandon Evans added two RBI's.  Adam Schneck drove in the game-ending run in the bottom of the 5th inning.

The JV team also blanked Dieruff today by a score of 9-0.  Evan McAndrew pitched four innings with two strikeouts.  In relief, Chad Cury pitched two innings with two strikeouts and Nate Kern pitched one inning with one strikeout.  Ryan Dumbach (3-4) and Brad Vasilik (2-3, HR) led the offense, including a homerun by Vasilik. 

The JV Trojans were back to their winning ways today as they beat Whitehall by a score of 9-3.  Hudson Rabenold wasted little time getting the Trojans on the board with a 3-run homer in the 1st inning.  The offense was alive today as Alex Flynn was 3-for-4 with a walk, Justing Afflerbach was 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI, and Dan Zaccaro was 2-for-3 with a an RBI.  On the mound, the Trojans were led by Zack Miiller who pitched the first four innings allowing one run and striking out two.  Connor Higgins worked two innings in relief, striking out three and allowing one run.  Chad Cury closed out the win with one inning of relief work.  Defensively, Flynn made two diving catches at second base and worked a double play.