Parkland High School Baseball

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The Parkland Trojans opened the 2014 season with an 11-2 win over defending Pennsylvania state champion North Penn Knights.  The offense collected 9 hits with four doubles and capitalized on struggling Knight's pitching that allowed 7 walks and 2 hit batters.  Trojan pitching was also solid allowing 2 runs by way of a Knight 2-run homer while scattering 4 hits.  More impressively, the pitching combination of starting pitcher Gabe Mosser and Connor Higgins struck out a total of 14 Knight batters. 

Parkland scored its first two runners without collecting a base hit.  After loading the bases on two walks and a hit batter, two wild pitches plated the first two runs for a 2-0 Trojan lead in the second inning.  Jeff Strisovsky (1-for-2, BB, RBI, run) then drove in Parkland's third run with an RBI single.  In the third inning, Chris Rabasco (2-for-4, two 2B, RBI, 2 runs) got things going with a double.  After two walks loaded the bases, Alex Flynn (0-for-1, two BB, RBI, run) drove in a run with an RBI ground out and Rhett Jacoby (1-for-1, BB, RBI, run) made it 5-0 Parkland with an RBI infield single.  The Trojans then broke it open in the 6th inning scoring 6 runs.  After a Strisovsky walk and Brad Vasilik (1-for-4, run) single, Justin Afflerbach (1-for-4, RBI, run) hit an RBI single to plate Strisovsky.  Rabasco followed with his second double of the day to drive in Vasilik.  Hudson Rabenold (1-for-2, 2B, BB, 2 RBI, 2 runs) then drove the ball off the wall in right field for a 2-RBI double that barely missed being a homerun.  A single by Zach Merkle (1-for-3, BB, 2 runs) put runners on the corners then pinch hitter Tanner Stufflet (1-for-1, 2B, 2 RBI) drove a ball over the right fielders head for a 2-RBI double. 

Starting pitcher Mosser worked 3 2/3 innings allowing 2 runs on 2 hits, while striking out 5 and walking three batters for the win.  Higgins worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief allowing two hits and striking out an amazing 9 batters.

Brad Vasilik, Parkland's senior outfielder, has sent his declaration of intent letter to Elizabethtown College and has committed to join the Blue Jays this fall for the 2014-2015 academic year.  After visiting several colleges, Brad realized that Elizabethtown College, known as E-town, was the ideal fit for him.  "The updated campus along with a very nice baseball facility was a great feel.  The time spent with Coach Smith was a great experience" said Vasilik.  Coach Smith's list of priorities, including family and academics, before baseball were a major factor in his decision.  Brad is excited to join the Blue Jay baseball team where he is guaranteed a roster spot as a freshman.  More importantly, Brad has received the highest academic scholarship that the school has to offer.  Brad intends to major in computer information systems. 

E-town currently competes in the Division III MAC conference, but will be moving to the Landmark Conference at the start of the 2014-2015 season.  Brad is really looking forward to his senior year as a Trojan.  "The experience of the team winning the district title was amazing" said Vasilik.  Brad expects the team to be in a great position to repeat as champions this year.  Brad added, "my goal is to help the team win league, districts, and the state title and I believe that those goals can be reached with great teamwork."

 Congratulations to Brad and his family!

Zach Merkle, a senior catcher at Parkland, verbally committed to play baseball at Southern Connecticut State University on athletic scholarship.  Zach plans to major in speech therapy.  Merkle will play his senior year at Parkland this spring and will join the Owls for the 2014-2015 academic year.  He will sign a national letter of intent in April 2014.  The Owls play in the Division II Northeast-10 Conference.

Merkle was recruited to play baseball by several schools and initially accepted an offer to play at Division I Temple University.  A few weeks after making that commitment, Temple University announced that it would drop the baseball program after the upcoming 2014 spring season.  Despite this unfortunate circumstance, Zach was able to contact some of the other schools that had recruited him and this led him to Southern Connecticut, a program that had been following Zach since last summer.  "The coaching staff (Coach Shea and Coach Cole) made me feel very comfortable and the campus in New Haven is very nice.  SCSU offered me exactly what I was looking for from an academic, baseball and campus standpoint," Merkle said.

Southern Connecticut has been in the Division II NCAA tournament five times (2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2011) with appearances in the Division II College World Series in 2005 and 2011.  The Owls have averaged over 30 wins per year since 2005.

Congratulations to Zach and his family!

Junior pitcher Rhett Jacoby has verbally committed to continue his baseball career at Penn State University on athletic scholarship.  The Nittany Lions compete in the Division I Big Ten Conference where this year they will take the field with a new coaching staff led by new head coach Rob Cooper.  Cooper was recently named the USA Baseball Coach of the Year.  Jacoby has two seasons of high school baseball to look forward to before joining the Nittany Lions for the 2015-2016 academic year.  Rhett plans to major in environmental science and wildlife.

Jacoby was recruited by several schools, including East Carolina University and Virginia Commonwealth University, and he received athletic scholarship offers from St. Johns, Millersville, Maryland, and PSU.  There were several factors that Rhett considered when choosing to commit to PSU.  "Academically they had the major I was interested in; not many schools offer the combination of environmental science and wildlife," said Jacoby.  Rhett further added, "athletically the facilities are amazing and I felt an instant connection with pitching coach Brian Anderson and coach Cooper during the recruiting process.  I really like coach Anderson's philosophy on handling pitchers." 

 Congratulations to Rhett and his family!