Parkland High School Baseball

Meeting for the fourth time this season, the second time at Coca-Cola Park, the Parkland Trojans defeated the Whitehall Zephyrs by a score of 5-2 to win the District XI championship at Coca-Cola Park tonight.  The Trojans now advance to the PIAA State Tournament with first round action scheduled for Monday, June 3.  Although Whitehall won two of the three previous matchups, Parkland defeated Zephyr ace Jacob Wloczewski for the second time this season, including tonight to claim the District XI title.

Parkland wasted no time and scored in the first inning when Brad Vasilik (2-4, R, RBI) led off the game with a single.  After Vasilik advanced to second base on a ground out, Tyler Graeff (1-3, 2B, BB, RBI) belted a double to score Vasilik and give the Trojans a 1-0 lead.  Although Whitehall's lead off batter reached base on a walk to start their half of the first inning, the inning quickly ended on a 4-6-3 double play followed by a groundout.  The Trojans made it 2-0 in the second inning when Chris Rabasco led off the inning with a walk.  A sacrifice bunt by Adam Schneck put Rabasco in scoring position.  Rabasco eventually scored on a Vasilik RBI single.  Whitehall loaded the bases with one out in the second inning, but Parkland starting pitcher Tyler Duff limited the damage by allowing only one run to score on a sacrifice fly and then ended the threat with a strikeout. 

Two walks and an error loaded the bases for the Trojans in the 3rd inning.  Zack Merkle (1-1, 2 HBP, RBI) and Jordan Jones (1-3, RBI) each drove in a run with singles to give Parkland a 4-1 lead.  Whitehall scored an unearned run in the 3rd inning to close the gap to 4-2.  Duff worked 4 1/3 innings and although he allowed seven walks, he only allowed two hits and limited Whitehall to only one earned run.  Connor Higgins came on in relief with one out and one base runner on in the 5th inning.  Whitehall threatened to score by putting runners on second and third, but Higgins worked out of the jam with a strikeout and ground out to end the inning. 

Parkland added an important insurance run in the top of the 7th when Aidan Flynn led off with a walk.  After stealing second base, Flynn advanced to third on a Damin Muth (1-4) bunt single.  Flynn would later score on a wild pitch to give Parkland a 5-2 lead.  Whitehall's 7th inning started with a ground out and strikeout for two quick outs, but the next two batters would reach base with a walk and a single to bring the tying run to the plate.  Another single to right field by Whitehall looked like the bases would be loaded for the next Whitehall batter, but Parkland took advantage of mistakes by Whitehall base runners.  The throw from right fielder Jones to catcher Muth caused the runner to retreat back to third base, while another Whitehall runner was stuck in no-man's land between second and third.  Muth threw the ball to shortstop Rabasco. As Rabasco forced both runners to converge onto third base, the runner at third base took off for home again.  After forcing the runner to commit to home plate, Rabasco tossed the ball back to Muth for the tagout.  Although the Whitehall base runner forced the ball out of Muth's glove by plowing into Muth, the base runner was ejected from the game and called out for not sliding.  This final out of the game gave the Trojans a 5-2 victory and the District XI championship.

Duff earned his eighth win of the season to improve to 8-0, while Higgins worked 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief, allowing two hits and three walks, while striking out four.  Higgins earned his second save of the season.

For the past two seasons, May 25 has not been a good day for the Parkland baseball team.  In 2011 and 2012, that date saw the Trojans' season end with losses in district playoffs.  Last year was particularly bitter as they had a 4-3 lead against Pocono Mountain East in the 7th inning, but the lead slipped away in the night fog as did the season.  Today was a new day for the Trojans as they faced Pocono Mountain East again, this time in the District XI semifinal.  This time the Trojans took an early lead and never looked back on way to 3-0 victory.  Parkland will now play for the District XI championship on Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Park against Whitehall.

Parkland was led by pitcher Gabe Mosser who worked six innings of shutout baseball, scattering six hits with four walks and five strikeouts.  Mosser worked out of a first inning jam that saw PME put two runners on base before Mosser got two strikeouts to end any threat.  In the 5th inning, Mosser worked out of a bases loaded jam.  Mosser was also helped by Parkland's defense that turned three double plays, including one that resulted from a runner interference call.  Connor Higgins worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning with one strikeout for his first varsity save. 

Parkland took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning when Chris Rabasco (1-3, run) and Adam Schneck (1-3, run) hit back-to-back singles with one out in the inning.  After both runners advanced on a flyout, Jordan Jones (1-3, 2 RBI) drove both runners home with a single.  The score would remain 2-0 until the 5th inning when Zack Merkle (1-3, HR, run, RBI) hit a solo homerun over the left-center fence to increase Parkland's lead to 3-0.  In the 6th innings, singles by Damin Muth (1-2, BB) and Tyler Graeff (1-3) helped the Trojans load the bases with one out and threaten for more runs, but all three runners would be stranded.  Brad Vasilik (1-4) added a single to round out Parkland's offense.

Senior pitcher Tyler Duff pitched a 3-hit complete game to lead the Trojans to a 4-1 victory over visiting Liberty in the opening round of District XI playoffs.  This is Duff's third win over Liberty this season and the second time he has gone the distance against Liberty.  After allowing the lead off hitter of the game to reach on a single in the first inning, Duff did not allow another base hit until the 7th inning, retiring 17 of the next 19 Liberty batters.  Duff finished with four strikeouts and walked two.

Parkland took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning when Damin Muth reached on an error with two outs.  Tyler Graeff (1-3, double, RBI) then hit a double off the fence in left-centerfield to bring home the first run of the game.  Parkland took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd inning when Alex Flynn (1-4, run) led off the inning with a single and later scored on a Hudson Rabenold (1-3, double, RBI) double.  The Trojans then tacked on two important insurance runs in the bottom of the 6th inning.  Chris Rabasco (2-2, BB, run) led off with a single and advanced to second base on an error.  Adam Schneck (1-3) then laid down a bunt that Liberty threw down the right field line that allowed Rabasco to score.  After Schneck was caught stealing, Brandon Evans reached base on a hit-by-pitch and scored on a Brad Vasilik (1-4, triple, RBI) triple to deep right-center to give Parkland the 4-0 lead heading into the 7th inning.  Zack Merkle (1-2, BB, double, run) led off the 4th inning with a double, but was left stranded.

After getting the first Liberty batter out on a ground ball to start the 7th, the next two batters hit back-to-back doubles to score Liberty's first run of the game.  Duff, dominant the entire game, quickly regained control to get the remaining two outs on a pop up and fly out for the 4-1 victory.