Parkland High School Baseball

The Parkland Trojans wasted no time in getting the offense rolling against the Dieruff Huskies in Allentown on Friday afternoon. Andrew Roth (4-5, 3R, 2B) singled to lead off the first. Cullan Wadsworth followed with one of his two bunt singles (3-5, 2R), and Tyler Bruno (1-3, 3R, 3 RBI, 1 HR) loaded the bases after getting hit by a pitch. Kyle Friebolin (1-3, R, RBI) knocked in the first run with a sacrifice fly. After Austin Mueller (2-3, R, 2RBI, 3B) walked, Matt Mellinger (1-4, 2RBI) roped a single to drive in another run. Christian Burgos (1-4, RBI) kept the train rolling by knocking in a 3rd run with a fielder’s choice ground out.

Taking the mound with a 3- run lead, Ryan Giovenco (4 IP, 2 ER, 9 K) established himself early by striking out the Husky lead-off hitter. Dieruff flashed some hitting power though and scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st to tighten the score.

Christian Kinsley (1-2, R, BB) got a base hit to start the 2nd inning, and later scored on a wild pitch. Roth singled and later scored on Bruno’s RBI fielder’s choice groundout, posting a 5-2 lead for the Trojans. The Huskies replied with another run in the bottom of the 2nd to cut the lead to 5-3.

Neither team scored in the 3rd, but the top of the 4th proved well for Parkland when Wadsworth led off with a beautifully placed bunt single. Bruno followed with a moonshot to deep right field for a 2-run home run. With the score at 7-3, Giovenco navigated through a second-straight, no-run no-hit inning.

Adam Smith (3 IP, 0 ER, 2 K, 0 BB) made his varsity debut on the mound, taking the ball from winning pitcher Giovenco in the 5th. After giving up an unearned run, Smith remained composed enough to retire 8 of the last 9 batters he faced, and securing the save.

The Trojan offense was not finished, however, as Bruno led off the 6th with a walk and stolen base. Friebolin moved the runner to 3rd with a base hit. Mueller proceeded to drive in Bruno and Ethan Imler (courtesy runner) with a stand-up triple to deep right-center field. Mellinger knocked in Mueller with an rbi field’s choice to make the score 10-4. In the 7th, Parkland capped off the scoring when Roth doubled down the line in left and scored on Wadsworth’s rbi single to right.

Congratulations to Coach Weber on his first win as varsity coach of the Parkland baseball team!

The Trojans suffered an opening day loss to the Easton Red Rovers, who set the tone early with a leadoff double and run scored in the top of the first. Starting pitcher Mike Jenkins (4+ IP; 7 K's; 1 BB) worked himself out of a jam, drawing a ground ball to third where Ethan Imler charged the ball well and first baseman Matt Mellinger used his range to assure the final out.

In the bottom of the first, leadoff hitter Andrew Roth (1-2) reached base on an error and second baseman Tyler Bruno (1-2) followed later with a base hit. Both runners were stranded, leaving Easton up 1-0 after the first inning.

Both teams went in order in the second inning, but Easton would strike for two runs in the top of the third with a couple of well-placed hits. Jenkins, who pitched 4+ innings, had one of his 7 strikeouts to end the rally.

Roth, who started in centerfield, had a base hit in the 3rd inning. Starting catcher Austin Mueller (1-2) had a base hit in the 4th. However, both runners were left stranded.

With the score 3-0 going into the 5th inning, Easton’s bats remained hot, chasing Jenkins after two batters for relievers Braeden Duff and AJ Palumbo. In all, Easton scored 9 in the inning to take a commanding lead. The Trojans were unable to rally in the bottom of the 5th, leading to a final score of 12-0. The Trojans look to bounce back against Dieruff on Friday, April 1.

Parkland set the tone early scoring 4 runs in the first inning defeating the Red Rovers earning Lee Moyer his first win as head coach of the JV squad. Adam Mellinger (3-4 2R 1 RBI) started the game with a double. Matt Ervolina ( 2-2, 2 BB, SAC, R, RBI) moved him to third, and Will Algard ( 3-4, 2 R, 4 RBI) singled to score Mellinger. Freshman Carson Fracas (R, RBI) doubled scoring Algard. Alex Oliver reached by error scoring Fracas and Dylan Miller (1-3, SAC, 2 RBI) hit a single to score Oliver. In the second inning, Justin Petrisko ( 2-3, BB, 3R) lead off with a double followed by a Mellinger single and Ervolina sacrifice to score two more runs.

Easton stormed back with 4 runs in the third making the game 6-4. But in the fourth, the first 3 Trojans reached to load the bases setting up an Algard 2 RBI single, followed by singles by Ty Conrad and Oliver and a sac fly by Miller. The Trojans added another run in the 7th, with a Petrisko walk and singles by Ervolina and Algard. Adam Mellinger and Dylan Snyder split the pitching duties in the 11-8 victory for the Trojans.