Something had to give when a pair of undefeated baseball teams met Tuesday at Coca-Cola Park.

Parkland got a stellar pitching performance from ace Michael Jenkins to keep its record unblemished and hand Northampton its first loss of the season, 8-0.

Jenkins allowed just three hits in the complete-game shutout. He struck out two and didn’t allow a walk.

“Mike throws strikes and he’s got a couple different pitches, so he keeps people off stride,” said Parkland head coach Kurt Weber. “He’s a battler. He’s going to make you earn it.”

After the Kids’ Brittain Shander led off the game with a hit, Jenkins retired 10 straight batters before Zach Lambert legged out an infield single on a close play at first base in the fourth inning. A line-drive double play ended the inning.

Parkland took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Matt Mellinger tripled to bring in Austin Mueller. Mellinger later scored on a wild pitch.

The Trojans (4-0 overall, 3-0 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference) broke the game open in the fourth inning, sending nine batters to the plate and knocking out starter Kyle Serman.

Christian Kinsley hit a bases-loaded single to make it 4-0 and the Kids (5-1, 3-1) brought in Cameron Rogers to relieve Serman.

Rogers got the inning’s second out before Jenkins doubled to bring in another run and Cullin Wadsworth made it 7-0 with an RBI single.

The big fourth inning started with Mellinger’s leadoff single. The senior went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple. He scored all three times he got on base.

“Matt didn’t have a high batting average last year, but we felt he was one of our best hitters,” said Weber. “He hit a lot of balls right at people. Today is what we expect of him. He squares the ball up all the time. It’s just a matter of whether they find the holes.

“He’s one of the best hitters we’ve had in this program and a guy that won’t try to do too much.”

Mellinger led off the fifth inning with his third hit of the game and scored on a fielder’s choice for an 8-0 lead as Rodgers got pulled for Tyler Bennett during the fifth inning.

“It was a great effort all-around offensively, not just me,” said Mellinger. “Everyone is putting the ball in play and making solid contact, moving guys, making things happen. It’s one of the things we want to continue the rest of the year.”

The Trojans had 13 hits in the game, four players with two hits or more and eight players with at least one hit. But the star of the game was Jenkins, who handed the credit to his pitching coach, Randy Baer, and his teammates.

“It was a great team win,” said Jenkins. “The defense played exceptional, like they have all year. The offense continued to hit the ball really well and provide a lot of runs.

“Northampton is a great program. It was a great win for us today.”

The win puts Parkland at the top of the EPC Skyline Division, where Nazareth is also unbeaten at 2-0 through Monday.

“It’s huge,” said Mellinger. “It’s a little early, but we’re showing everyone in the EPC who we are this year and what we’re here to do. It’s a big confidence boost for the rest of the year.”

Parkland will face Liberty Thursday, North Penn in a nonleague game on Saturday and take on Emmaus Monday. While the win puts Parkland in great position, Weber is proceeding with caution.

“This was a good test for us,” he said. “Northampton has been playing really well lately. It was a good test to see where we’re at.

“The big thing now is not to get too excited about where we’re at and try to keep getting better every day. You don’t want to be good in March and April, you want to be good in May and June, hopefully.”