Parkland High School Baseball

On a night where the rain held off, the local community turned out for Youth Night and to Pledge It's support in the effort to raise money to Strike Out pancreatic cancer in memory and honor of Patrick Jenkins, his oldest son Mike Jenkins delighted the crowd in attendance and dominated a Whitehall lineup that could mange only one hit on this night,coming off the bat of the games first hitter. The Trojan Defense had Jenkins back and was flawless as was evidenced with the first out in the first inning coming after the only Whitehall hit of the game as Cullan Wadsworth delivered a web gem "Superman" catch after chasing down a ball to the LCF gap. From that moment on Jenkins Aggressively shut down Whitehall with strikeout after strikeout and groundball after groundball to his infield that played flawlessly with every Opportunity it received. 

In the Bottom of the 1st Jenkins walked and Jeremy Piatkiewicz came on to pinch run and score the games first run after a Cullan Wadsorth single and SB and a Matt Mellinger sacrifice fly plated Piatkiewicz. As was the theme for the night from the Top of the 2nd on Jenkins and the Trojans retired the Zephyrs in order. In the Top of the 3rd Jenkins retired all batters via strikeout, again setting down the side in order in the Top of the 4th. In the Bottom half of the inning the the Trojans added a run when Cullan Wadsworth ROE then Matt Mellinger singled with Wadsworth going 1st to 3rd. Matt Mellinger then stole 2nd and Wadsworth scored as Adam Mellinger reached first on a passed ball on a dropped 3rd strike, after 4 the Trojans led 2-0. Jenkins and the Trojans set Whitehall down in order in both the 5th and 6th as Jenkins strikeout total continued to climb.

In the bottom of the 6th the Trojans were Selfless and Opportunistic in manufacturing the final 2 runs of the game to push the lead to 4-0. It started with Cullan Wadsworth ROE and advancing to 2nd, Matt Mellinger singled moving Wadsworth to 3rd and Wadsworth scored ad Mellinger moved to 3rd on a passed ball. Dylan Miller then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt with Matt Mellinger on the move from third and scoring the games final run. Will Algard the added a double to the inning for the Trojans. And as would only be fitting on this night Jenkins and the Trojans set down Whitehall in order in the Top of the 7th to end the game.

The Trojans played their first game of the season under the lights on Thursday against East Stroudsburg North winning 8-3. Harsha Bollu's return to the mound at Home had been well anticipated and was good to see, however, the Trojan Defense in the first inning had uncharacteristic miscues that led to and early 3-0 deficit against the Timberwolves from the north. The Trojans and Bollu regrouped and competed were Relentess in their desire to win put the rough top of the first behind them and worked as a unit to turn it around. The Trojans threatened in the Bot of 2 after the M&M Brothers (Matt & Adam) posted back to back knocks and advanced on a Dylan Miller sacrifice bunt to 2nd & 3rd, unfortunately the rally did not yield a run. Bollu and the Trojan Defense retired the side in order in the Top 3 via a K and 2 GO's.

The Bottom of 3 saw the Trojan Offense get aon track after a single by CK Kinsley & Austin Mueller put runners on the corners. Mueller stole 2nd promptly and Kinsley scored on a Cullan Wadsworth single, with Wadsworth quickly stealing 2nd a Matt Mellinger walk and a Adam Mellinger single led to a 3-3 tie after the Bot of 3. In the Top of the 4th Bollu and the Trojans worked around a walk and were quickly back on offense after a K and 2 tappers to the infield. The Bot 4 saw the Trojans take the lead for good scoring 4 times after Will Algard walked and stole 2nd & 3rd and then scored on an Adam Smith ground out for a 4-3 Trojan Lead. CK Kinsley then singled stole second and scored on an Austin Mueller double to go up 5-3. A Mike Jenkins single followed by a Cullan Wadsworth triple pushed the score to 6-3, with Wadsworth scoring on a Matt Mellinger walk as Matt advanced to 2nd and the Trojans led 7-3 after 4.

In the Top of the 5th AJ Palumbo took over on the mound for the Trojans and worked around a single with a K. The Trojans scored their final run of the night after Dylan Miller walked and went to 2nd on a passed ball and then scored on a CK Kinsley single. Austin Mueller followed with a single and after 5 the Trojans led 8-3. Palumbo and the Trojans retired the side in order in the Top 6 on 2 K’s and the Trojans day on offense wrapped up with Wadsworth getting HBP and advancing to 2nd on a passed ball, ESN was unable to score in the 7th and the Trojans had their first win under the lights 8-3.

The Trojan JV Squad travelled to East Stroudsburg North on Thursday and put up 21 runs over three innings. Mark Leiby (2) and Jared Kucharczuk (1) shut down the ESN offense completely in three innings, striking out seven while yielding 0 hits. The Trjoans got off the bus swinging in the first inning and when they were not hitting they were walking or getting hit jumping out to a quick nine run lead after the first inning. One would think that might be tough to top in the subsequent inning, however, the JV Trojans did just that putting up ten runs in the second inning. It was all over after three innings and two more runs, running the final tally up to 21-0.

Certainly with that much pencil on the scorebook every Trojan in the lineup crossed home plate for at least a run. Austin Brockel (4-5) Mark Leiby (2-3) Joshua Miller (3-3) Alex Oliver (2-3) Mitchell Marciniak (1-2) Andrew Sorrentino (1-2) Harper Puckett (2-3) JC Grim (3-4) Julian Nalesnik (R). 

What a difference a day makes, 24 hours after  agme in which the team struggled to generate runs the offense saw 11 go on the board at home against Central Catholic as the JV Squad turned over the order in the Top of the 1st innning while jumping out to a 6-0 lead after 1 inning. Matthew Ervolina started it all with a walk followed by a Jared Kucharczuk 1B, Austin Imler 2B, Sergio Rodriguez 2B, Mitchell Marciniak  BB, Koby Staivecki 1B, JC Grimm HBP, and a Joseph Webber 1B and a 6-0 Trojan lead after a first inning that must have felt like a entire game if you were on the wrong side of the fence.

The second inning saw Austin Imler, Koby Staivecki and Mitchell Marciniak with walks but the Trojans did not score this time. The third had Grimm & Webber reaching via walk and a Ervolina single with both Grimm & Webber scoring in the third. The fourth had the Trojans scoring three more times on a series of Central Catholic errors and a Joseph Webber single and Matthew Ervolina sac fly. All of it adds up to a great bounceback 11-0 win by the JV Trojans.