Parkland High School Baseball

The Parkland baseball coaches and booster club parents held their annual field clean up day at the varsity field today.  Along with general clean up, parents worked to secure the turf in the batting cage, level out the warning track rock, and do some much needed maintenance on our coke wagon concession stand.  The big job of the day, however, involved the upgrade to the pitcher's mound and homeplate areas.  Both areas were dug up and clay bricks installed to give a solid subsurface footing.  With this firm foundation of clay underneath the pitcher's mound, batters' box, and catcher's area, wear and tear of these areas will be drastically reduced as the clay will help prevent large holes and divots from developing from the constant pounding and digging of players' spikes.  The booster club thanks all parents and coaches that turned out to help today.   A special thanks to Scott Friebolin and Jim Adams for their work on the coke wagon.

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The JV Trojans ended a three-game losing skid with a strong performance against Bethlehem Catholic, winning by a score of 10-0.  Starting pitcher Harsha Bollu dominated Bethlehem Catholic batters for 5 shutout innings by striking out 6 and scattering 3 hits over the 6 innings with no base runners reaching second base.

Parkland’s offense got a first inning run when Michael Jenkins (1-3,1r, 1 rbi) reached base on a hit by pitch followed by Austin Mueller reaching base safely on an error to put runners on first and second base.  Kyle Friebolin (2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI) then lined a single to center to score Jenkins for the 1-0 Parkland lead.

In the  2^nd inning, Ethan Imler (1-3, 2R,1 RBI, 1sb) singled to lead off the inning and stole second base.  Ben Trinkle (2-3, 2 R) then singled to put runners on the corners.  After wild pitch scored Imler, Trinkle scored on an error to make it 3-0 after 2 innings.

In the 4^th Braeden Duff(1-2,1R,1RBI, 1sb) singled and stole second base followed by a John Amato (2-3, 1R, 1RBI) single.  Duff scored on another Bethlehem Catholic error followed by a Jenkins RBI single to score another run.

In the 5^th, the JV Trojans loaded the based when Matt Mellinger (1-3,1R) led off with a single, Imler reached on an error, and Trinkle laid down a bunt single.  A sacrifice fly by Duff scored Mellinger, then Amato delivered a 2-RBI single to increase Parkland's lead to 8-0.

The Trojans ended the game by mercy rule in the 6^th inning when Nathan Markowicz (1-1, 1 R) singled for his first hit as a Parkland Trojan.  A Friebolin single and another error scored Markowicz.  Imler then hit a walk off sacrifice fly to score Friebolin for the 10-0 victory.

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The Parkland Trojans improved their record to 5-0 with a 9-0 win over Bethlehem Catholic.  Parkland stranded several base runners in the early innings failing to capitalize on struggling Bethlehem Catholic pitching that allowed a total of eleven walks.   With a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the 6th inning, the Trojans finally took advantage when Zach Merkle (1-for-2, HR, 2 BB, 4 RBI, run) came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit one over the left field fence for a grand slam.  It was also a milestone night for head coach Tony Galucy who collected his 200th career win. 

Parkland scored three runs in the 1st inning and one in the 2nd inning for the early 4-0 lead.  After walks to Brad Vasilik (1-for-3, BB, run) and Justin Afflerbach (0-for-1, 3 BB, 2 runs), Hudson Rabenold (1-for-2, 2B, SF, 3 RBI, run) drove a ball to deep right-center for a 2-RBI double.  A walk to Merkle followed by an Alex Flynn (2-for-3) single loaded the bases.  Zach Miiller (1-for-2, SF, RBI) drove home the third Parkland run with a sacrifice fly.  In the 2nd, the Trojans loaded the bases with no outs when Vasilik led off with a single followed by an Afflerbach walk and Chris Rabasco (2-for-4, 2 runs) single.  Rabenold collected his third RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly to give Parkland the 4-0 lead. 

Senior pitcher Gabe Mosser earned his third win of the season on the mound going 5 scoreless innings, striking out nine, while allowing only two hits and one walk.  Rabasco worked the 6th inning striking out two and allowing one hit.  Evan McAndrew pitched the 7th inning striking out two and allowing one hit. 

In the 6th, the Trojans loaded the bases on walks to Afflerbach and Rhett Jacoby (0-for-0, BB, run) and a Rabasco single.  Merkle then drove a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for the grand slam to give Parkland an 8-0 lead.  Parkland would tack on one more run when Tyler Bruno (1-for-1, run) singled, followed by a Tanner Stufflet (0-for-0, BB) base on balls.  Bruno would advance to third base on a Harrison Rabenold fly out and later scored on a wild pitch.