Parkland High School Baseball

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The Parkland Trojans and Whitehall Zephyrs battled through seven innings of play with no score to send the game at Coca-Cola Park to extra innings.  In the bottom of the 8th inning with the game still scoreless, Justin Afflerbach (1-4, R) singled through the left side with one out in the inning.  Chris Rabasco (1-2, 2B, 2 BB, RBI) then drove an 0-1 curveball to the wall in left-center that scored Afflerbach for the 1-0 walk off win.  With one game left in the regular season, Parkland now holds a record of 18-1, nine of those victories coming via the shutout.

Parkland's Evan McAndrew and Whitehall's Jake Meyers were locked in a pitchers' duel through six innings of play.  The Trojans managed only three base hits through 7 innings of play and were off balance at the plate throughout the game.  McAndrew allowed six base hits and three walks in his six innings of work while striking out two.  Whitehall put runners on first and second base in the first three innings of the game, but each time McAndrew worked out of the jam and never allowed a base runner past second base during the game. 

In the top of the 7th, after allowing a lead off walk to Whitehall, McAndrew gave way to relief pitcher Connor Higgins.  Higgins induced three ground ball outs to strand a runner on second base to end the top of the 7th inning.  In the top of the 8th, Higgins worked around a lead off single and a walk that put Whitehall runners at first and second base with one out, keeping Whitehall off the board.  Higgins worked a total of two innings in relief for the win allowing just the one hit and one walk with one strikeout.  Higgins now has a record of 7-0 on the season.

Jeff Strisovsky (1-4), Tyler Bruno (1-2 sac bunt), and Andrew Roth (1-3) each had singles in the game for Parkland's only base hits through seven innings of play.   After Strisovsky's two-out single in the 5th inning, the Trojans were held hitless until the back-to-back hits of Afflerbach and Rabasco in the 8th inning for the win.

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The JV squad used a 6-run 6th inning rally to defeat the Whitehall Zephyrs 10-5.  After Whitehall jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning, the Mellinger brothers shut down the Zephyrs with six scoreless innings.  Starting pitcher Matt Mellinger worked 4 innings, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks, while recording 2 strikeouts.  Relief pitcher Adam Mellinger picked  up the win, throwing 3 shutout innings, giving up no hits, with 1 strikeout and 2 walks.  The Mellinger duo held the Zephyr bats to just two hits over the final 6 innings to secure the 10-5 win.

The Trojan offense got started in the top of the 3rd, scoring 4 runs to pull within a run at 5-4.  Christian Kinsley (0 for 4, R) got the inning started by reaching on error on a ground ball to third.  Joey Bolick (0 for 4, BB, 2R) followed with a walk and Scott Hudock (1 for 3, BB, 2R, RBI) singled to score Kinsley.  Ethan Imler (1 for 2, 2BB, 2R, RBI) singled scoring Bolick, and Hudock scored on a wild pitch.  The final run of the inning came on a Nate Markowicz (2 for 4, R, 3RBI) single to center, scoring Imler.

Following 2 scoreless innings, the Trojans got rolling again in the 6th inning.  Colin Calpin (1 for 4, R) reached base on error to start the inning.  Bolick reached on a fielder's choice and Hudock was safe on a bunt that resulted in an overthrow at first, scoring Calpin to tie the game 5-5.  Imler followed with a walk, and Matt Mellinger (1 for 4, R, RBI) singled to score Bolick for the go ahead run, giving Parkland a 6-5 lead.  The Trojans added 4 insurance runs on a 2-RBI single by Markowicz that scored Hudock and Imler, and ground balls by Nick Iannotta (1 for 3, BB) and Adam Mellinger (0 for 1) that scored M. Mellinger and Markowicz for the 10-5 final score.