Parkland High School Baseball

Nick Rabasco, The Morning Call’s 2011 All-Area First Team second baseman, has verbally committed to play baseball at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) on athletic scholarship.  Rabasco will be entering his senior year at Parkland this fall and will join the NJIT Highlanders for the 2012-2013 academic year.  The Highlanders play in the Division I Great West Conference.  Nick’s college major is currently undecided, but he plans to pursue math, business, or environmental science.  Congratulations to Nick and his family!

Third baseman Jarred Cury made a diving play on a hard grounder to end Easton's 6th inning threat and Parkland appeared on their way to the District XI semi-final round, taking a 6-3 lead into the 7th inning.  However, the season ended abruptly for the Parkland Trojans when Easton scored 4 runs to take the lead in the top of the 7th, and Easton then secured the 7-6 victory when the Trojans left the tying run on second base in the bottom of the 7th.   After allowing a first inning run to the Rovers, Parkland pitcher Dan Shaw worked effectively the remainder of the game, striking out six.  Shaw left after 6+ innings of work for relievers Matt Nelson and Adam Fye.  A combination of Easton hits and Parkland errors in the field allowed Easton to rally for 4 runs and take the 7-6 lead in the 7th inning.  Parkland put the tying run on second base in the bottom of the 7th when Nick Rabasco singled and then moved into scoring position on a ground out, but was stranded ending the season for the Trojans.  At the plate, the Trojans were led by Rabasco (2-for-4), Dan Shaw (2-run HR), Ben Breiner (1-for-4, 2-RBI), Tyler Graeff (1-for-3, triple), and Cury (1-for-3, RBI).  Ryan Sutovich added a single and Damin Muth added an RBI with a sacrifice fly. 

After waiting a week for rains to pass that forced the LVC playoffs into a single day event, the Parkland Trojans played flawless baseball beating Emmaus 8-1 in an early morning semi-final matchup and then beat heavy favorite Nazareth 5-1 in the championship game later in the day to claim the 2011 LVC title.  Both games were dominated by Parkland's starting pitchers, Matt Hurd and Matt Nelson, which was combined with good hitting, execution of several sacrifice bunts to move runners into scoring position, and errorless defense that kept the Trojans in command of both games from beginning to end.