Parkland High School Baseball

The Parkland Trojans enjoyed their first night game of the year treating a large crowd on hand to some good baseball that included dominant pitching and good hitting for a 7-1 win over Central Catholic.  It was also a night where the Trojans recognized Parkland area youth baseball players. 

Starting pitcher Connor Higgins had an impressive performance on the mound.  Higgins pitched six scoreless innings of baseball allowing only one base hit single in the 3rd inning, walked three batters, and had 10 strikeouts.  Higgins retired the first eight batters of the game, six of them on strikeouts, before surrendering Central Catholic's first base hit. 

The Trojans went up by a score of 1-0 in the 2nd inning when Hudson Rabenold (2-for-2, two doubles, BB, RBI, run) led off the inning with a double to deep centerfield.  After moving over to third on a flyout, Rabenold scored the first run on a sacrifice fly by Gabe Mosser (0-for-1, BB, sac fly, RBI, run).  In the 3rd inning, Justin Afflerbach (2-for-2, 2 runs) singled to start the inning and later ended up at third base after a wild pitch and sacrifice bunt.  Another wild pitch plated Afflerbach for the 2-0 Trojan lead.  Zach Merkle (0-for-1, 2 BB, run) then walked and stole second base, and scored on an RBI single by Chris Rabasco (1-for-3, RBI, run).  Rabenold then drove his second double of the game to deep centerfield again to drive in Rabasco and put the Trojans up by a score of 4-0 after three innings of play.  The Trojans loaded the based with no outs in the 4th inning when Alex Flynn (1-for-1, HBP, BB, RBI) was hit by a pitch, Mosser walked, and Afflerbach reach base on a bunt single.  A walk to Merkle forced in one run and a Jeff Strisovsky (1-for-2, double, sac fly, RBI) sacrifice fly scored another for the 6-0 Parkland lead.  Parkland tacked on one more run in the 5th inning.  Rabenold walked and Zach Miiller (1-for-3) reached on a single.  Flynn then scored pinch runner Isaac Neal with an RBI single to increase Parkland's lead to 7-0. 

Relief pitcher Rhett Jacoby came on to pitch the 7th inning and allowed one unearned run on two base hits and struck out three.  Central Catholic did manage to score their lone run of the game in the 7th inning taking advantage of two Parkland fielding errors.  Jacoby prevented any further scoring by striking out the last two batters of the game.

Parkland Trojan baseball alumni are well represented on the 2014 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East All-Conference Baseball Team announced today.  2013 Parkland graduate and Bloomsburg University freshman Damin Muth was named the 2014 PSAC East Freshman of the Year, as well as earning a spot on the All-PSAC East 2nd Team as a designated hitter.  2010 Parkland graduate and Bloomsburg University senior Casey Cooperman was named to the All-PSAC East 1st Team as a pitcher.  2012 Parkland graduate and East Stroudsburg University sophomore Nick Rabasco was selected to the All-PSAC East 1st team as an infielder.

Damin Muth put up staggering numbers in his debut college season for the Bloomsburg Huskies.  He lead the Huskies in nearly every statistical category, including batting average (.394), on-base percentage (.500), slugging percentage (.520), OPS (1.020) and RBI (29). A catcher by trade, Muth spent most of the season as the Huskies designated hitter, moving into the No. 3 spot in the batting order.

Casey Cooperman has been the ace of the Bloomsburg Huskies pitching staff serving as a workhorse at the top of the starting rotation.  He compiled a record of 6-4, leads the PSAC in innings pitched with 77.0, and holds an impressive 1.64 ERA in 11 starts.  Additionally, Cooperman has eight complete games this season, including seven straight to finish the regular season.  He owns the school's top spot in career innings pitched at 235.1.

Nick Rabasco earned All-PSAC honors in his first season at ESU after transferring from NJIT.  He hit .350 with a .420 on-base percentage, six doubles, 17 RBI and 27 runs, while batting primarily in the leadoff spot for the Warriors.  In 115 plate appearances, he struck out only four times.  As ESU's second baseman, he compiled a .988 fielding percentage at second base, committing just one error.

Both Damin Muth and Casey Cooperman look to continue their success this year as they lead the Bloomsburg Huskies into the PSAC Championship Tournament that begins April 30 in Butler, PA.   Good luck to Damin and Casey!

Congratulations to Damin, Casey, and Nick!

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