Coming into the season, the Parkland baseball team was all about pitching.

The Trojans’ staff is talented and deep and tit showed just how strong it can be when Ryan Giovenco and Adam Mellinger combined to no-hit Hazleton in a 4-0 win.

Giovenco, a senior, pitched five shutout innings, striking out eight and walking four, with one hit batter. Mellinger finished it off with two innings of no-hit ball, giving up two walks and striking out two in the process.

“It’s awesome,” said Giovenco about the depth of the staff. “I think we’re going to have a lot more games like this with how many great pitchers that we have. I think it’s going to be a commonplace thing where we have guys who can pitch well and take it to the end of the game.”

Even though the weather was a little cold and, at times, blustery, Giovenco was able to command his curveball and kept hitters guessing.

“It’s always tougher to throw in the cold and gripping the curveball is tougher, so a couple of them got away from me,” said Giovenco, who will play at Haverford College next year and majoe in biology. “Once I locked into it and got on a roll it went pretty well.”

None of the Hazleton hitters were really able to get good swings on the ball throughout the game, although they did use some walks to put Giovenco in a bit of trouble. The Cougars used two walks in the first to put runners on first and second with two outs.

“He got a lot of experience last year and we’re certainly counting on him to be one of our main guys this year,” said Parkland head coach Kurt Weber. “He’s got good stuff, it’s just a matter of him keeping himself out of trouble. He got himself into some jams, but pitched right out of them, which is what a veteran pitcher will do for you.”

Mellinger also got himself into a jam in the sixth when an error and two walks allowed the Cougars to load the bases with just one out. Mellinger picked up a big strikeout and then got a groundball back to the mound to end the threat.

This year, pitchers are on a pitch count that determines how many days off they need between pitching. Giovenco said that he doesn’t worry about his pitch count and prefers to just work on getting hitters out, knowing that there are other pitchers who can come in and close out the game, like Mellinger did in the opener. In some ways, the new rule, designed to protect pitchers from injuries, could wind up helping the Trojans.

“For us, it’s a nice rule, because it forces some people to use some depth,” said Weber. “I don’t think we would have ever exceeded the pitching rules, but it helps us. We also can make teams go to their third, fourth, fifth pitchers.”

Parkland scored all four runs in the fifth inning. With runners on second and third, Michael Jenkins lifted a fly ball to right field that drove home Dylan Miller with the game’s first run. Adam Smith then scored on an error and Matt Mellinger drove in two runs with a two-out single. Cullan Wadsworth finished the day with two hits for Parkland.

Pitching and offense were both on display against Bethlehem Catholic as the Trojans picked up a 10-0 win to go 2-0 on the season.

Jenkins allowed just two hits in the game for Parkland. The offense, which is thought to be a question mark coming into the season, took advantage of three Hawks errors and got three hits each from Wadsworth, Austin Mueller and Ethan Imler.

“We feel like we have a handful of guys who are returning, who are going to be solid bats for us, and then we do like some of the younger guys,” said Weber. “There are still spots open, but we feel like we have some candidates who are worth a shot and some guys who are capable, it’s just going to be a matter of who can do it, who can step up and take those spots.

Parkland will host Emmaus Thursday in what could be an interesting game. Parkland is known for its pitching, while the Emmaus’ offense put up 27 runs in their first two games and added four more in a 10-4 loss to Northampton. Parkland plays Northampton next Tuesday at Coca-Cola Park.