Parkland High baseball team rallies past Owen J. Roberts in PIAA 4A opener – Allentown Morning Call

For a third straight season, Parkland fell behind a District 1 opponent in its PIAA opener.

The Trojans refused to exit the state playoffs early again.

Parkland twice erased one-run deficits against Owen J. Roberts before seizing the lead in the fourth inning. Chris Rabasco’s RBI single in the fifth added some insurance the Trojans needed to hold on for a 4-3 win in a PIAA Class 4A first-round baseball game Wednesday afternoon.

The win allowed District 11 champion Parkland (26-1 overall) to do something it had not since 2009 – reach the state quarterfinals. The Trojans fell in state openers at Easton High School’s Richards Field each of the past two seasons, losing 1-0 to North Penn in 2013 and 2-1 to Spring-Ford in 2014.

Back on that same field Wednesday, the Trojans smacked 10 hits against Owen J. Roberts starter Cory Hennessey to knock him out of the game after 4 1/3 innings. Seven of the nine players in Parkland’s lineup had a hit, with Tyler Bruno going 3-for-3 and Evan McAndrew going 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

“Finally getting past this, it feels great,” McAndrew said. “The curse is over. It’s time for the quarterfinals.”

Parkland kept its composure through the first two innings despite falling behind 2-1. Owen J. Roberts, District 1’s No. 3 state qualifier, built its advantage with five early hits against Parkland starter Rhett Jacoby.

Most of those hits came off soft contact, including Joe Zgleszewski’s bloop RBI single in the first after Parkland brought its infield in with two strikes against him. Jacoby did not rattle.

He retired 11 straight batters between the second and sixth innings to give Parkland a chance to rally. Jacoby finished with six strikeouts and walked no one.

“Once we got that lead, he really looked sharp,” Parkland coach Tony Galucy said. “He was hitting his spots. I think some were strikes that we weren’t getting.”

Parkland took the lead by scoring single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. McAndrew’s second RBI single of the day tied the game in the third. Jacoby then put the Trojans ahead with an RBI single up the middle in the fourth.

Justin Afflerbach, who endured a strange day, scored the game-winning run after hitting a one-out double in the fifth. His double came after he was hit by a pitch earlier in the at-bat but forced to stay at the plate when the home-plate umpire ruled Afflerbach did not make an attempt to avoid the pitch. Earlier in the game, Afflerbach was called out for interference while running to first on a sacrifice-bunt attempt.

Rabasco, who went hitless in his first two at-bats, drove Afflerbach home with an RBI single to make it 4-2. Owen J. Roberts cut its deficit to one when it scored in the sixth and had two men on in the seventh with one out.

Jacoby and Rabasco helped finish the Wildcats off. Jacoby first got Zgleszewski to fly out before Rabasco charged a slow roller by Jake LeClerc and threw to first for the clinching out.

“It seemed like there were a lot of them, so I had practice on the other few,” Rabasco said. “There were a lot of little dinkers up the middle. I kind of misplayed one with a bare hand.

“I just thought it was their four hitter, so I knew I had some more time than on some of the other kids. I’m just happy to make the play.”

Galucy was relieved to see his seniors finally win a state playoff game, even if the Trojans don’t have a ton of time to enjoy it. They take on District 1 champion Council Rock North at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon at Immaculata University.

“If we would have lost this game, people would have looked down on us, like we had a disappointing year because the same thing happened,” Galucy said. “Now to get over the hump here, I think the kids can relax a little bit.

“I expect us to play better now.”

samiller@mcall.com

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