Parkland High School Baseball

The 2017 Hometown Heroes Night at Parkland High School's Baseball Stadium generated $700 in donations and snack stand profits.  All monies were donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation, an organization that does good works for First Responders, Military, Veterans, and their families.   Hometown Heroes in attendance received free meals and basket raffles were held with prizes awarded to to them as well.  HHN Honorees, Petty Officer, Tyler Laudenslager, North Whitehall Fire Marshal, Don Jacobs, Retired South Whitehall Police Officer, Scott Smith, and Paramedic, Doug Gernerd were saluted for their service to our community.  Many thanks to all that attended.  Watch for information on next year's Hometown Heroes Night.  Click on the team photo or headline to find more information on the GSF.

The Trojans are once again the Champions of the EPC after a 6-3 Victory over Liberty in the EPC Finals. For this type of occassion it is best for the reporting to be left to the professionals and the breakdown below is an exceprt by Stephen Miller of the Morning Call from 5/19/2017 with the full article able to be found via the link:

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-epc-baseball-final-2017-20170519-story.html 

Pitching on the shortest amount of rest he has had this season, Michael Jenkins lacked his typical command. He threw well enough to help Parkland return to the EPC summit. Jenkins tossed five solid innings, cracked two hits and drove in a run, and ended the sixth inning with a defensive gem at third base. Christian Kinsley and Matt Mellinger also had a pair of hits as the second-seeded Trojans beat No. 1 Liberty 6-3 in the EPC baseball final at Hackett Park. Friday's win gave Parkland (16-7 overall) its third league championship in the last four years. The Trojans won the first EPC title in 2015 and the final Lehigh Valley Confer-ence title in 2014.

Jenkins started Friday on three days' rest after firing a three-hit shutout Monday against Northampton in the EPC quarterfinals. He walked two batters in his five in-nings, matching his season total in 54 innings before Friday.Jenkins also limited Liberty to four hits and struck out six. Once he gave the Trojans their second lead with a third-inning sacrifice fly, they stayed ahead to the finish. "I felt good," Jenkins said. "I just wasn't able to locate as best as I have. But you have those days. You just have to rely on your defense, which I can do. They're a great de-fense behind me. They played well today and all year." Mellinger doubled twice and scored a run for Parkland. Kinsley had a single, a double, a run scored and an RBI. The Trojans finished with 11 hits against Liberty pitcher Sam Kraihanzel and Alex Laudenslager.

Parkland senior Harsha Bollu threw two scoreless innings in relief to earn the save and deny Liberty (20-3) a championship. The Hurricanes went 15-1 during EPC regular-season play and carried a 12-game winning streak into Friday. They couldn't string to-gether enough hits to beat the Trojans. "We give credit to them," Liberty coach Andy Pitsilos said. "They played better than us tonight. It's a credit to Parkland." Jenkins said losing to Freedom in last season's EPC semifinals drove Parkland to this point. The Trojans endured some uneven stretches during the regular season, losing three of four games in one span that extended into early May. Parkland also played its typical challenging schedule, with nonleague matchups against Wilson West Lawn and North Penn among the highlights. The Trojans won the EPC Skyline, the area's top division, to prep them for their EPC tournament run this week. "It feels amazing, especially after missing out last year and losing in the semifinals," Jenkins said. "We remembered that loss to Liberty earlier in the year. They're a great club. We really wanted to get them again, and we got them this time." samiller@mcall.com 

Hacketts Park in Easton, EPC SemiFinals, Giovenco on the mound and.......Emmaus.  After a 16 inning marathon in which 2 Trojans (Jenkins & Bollu) all but threw complete game shut outs and Emmaus squeezed out a 1 run victory; turns out that a neutral site and Giovenco was all that was needed to get rid of the sting of that loss. As Coach Weber would later state in a post game interview Senior Ryan Giovenco just needed to settle in and let his hard work and training take over and that is just what he did with a little help and some timely plays from the Trojan Defense in a couple of the innings. The Trojans and Giovenco did let in a run in the 1st to give Emmaus an early lead 1-0, but Cullan Wadsworth singled in the Bot 1 and moved to 2nd & then 3rd courtesy of a CK Kinsley Sac Bunt and later scored on a passed ball to steal a run and tie the game at 1-1. From that point on and with a fresh game in front of him Giovenco settled in and battled inning after inning, as he and the Trojans Defense held Emmaus in check through the sixth inning without yielding another run.

Offensively the Trojans had Adam Mellinger ROE and Ethan Imler walk in the Bot 2 without scoring and in the Bot of 3 Cullan Wadsworth singled and stole second but after 3 the score remained 1-1. The Bot of 4 saw the Trojans take the lead for good after Adam Mellinger walk and went 1st to 3rd on Ethan Imlers single who then did the same as Dylan Miller ROE and Adam Melliner scored to make it 2-1. Miller then stole 2B and Adam Smith ROE and Imler and Miller scored making it 4-1. Smith scored to make it 5-1 when Cullan Wadsworth doubled then scored on a CK Kinsley single to push the lead to 6-1 after 4. In the Bot 5 Austin Mueller walked stole second and third Ethan Imler walked, then Mueller stole a run crossing the plate on a wild pitch pushing the lead to 7-1.

Senior Harsha Bollu came on for the 7th and finished the game as the Trojans Won 7-3 to advance to the Finals Friday Night at Hacketts Park.