Trojans reach baseball final
The Parkland baseball team has earned the right to play for an East Penn Conference title.
The Trojans made the league playoffs as the No. 2 seed and won two games to reach the title game where they will face top seeded Liberty.
In the quarterfinal round of the EPC tournament, Parkland beat No. 7 seed Central Catholic 5-1 Saturday.
The Trojans got their five runs on five hits and two ACC errors. After the Vikings took a lead in the top of the second inning, Parkland went in front with two runs in the bottom of the inning then tacked on three more in fifth to cap the scoring.
Five different Parkland players had one hit each in the game, with Will Dobil going 1-for-1 while walking twice and scoring a run. Connor Gerhart drove in two runs in the win and Ben Weninger went 1-for-2 with a home run and two RBI.
Nathan Unger allowed three Central hits and no earned runs over six innings. Steven Sepko pitched a hitless inning and struck out two batters.
Parkland pulled out a 2-1 win over No. 3 seed Freedom in Monday’s semifinals. The Trojans opened the scoring with a run in the third inning. After Freedom tied the score with a run in the fourth, Parkland scored the game-winner on a Dobil double that scored pinch runner Evan Newhard.
Dobil went 3-for-3 in the semifinal and knocked in both Parkland runs.
Chase Brunner allowed seven hits but only one run over four innings while striking out four batters. Sawyer Marsteller got the win with three hitless innings while striking out to Patriots.
The Trojans advanced to face top seed Liberty in the league title game, which was scheduled for Wednesday.
Parkland (16-5) finished the regular season with a 5-1 win over Emmaus last week to go 13-3 in the league. The Trojans scored a run in the first, third and fifth innings then added two in the sixth to finish the scoring. Emmaus, which committed three errors in the game, got it’s only run in the top of the fifth inning.
Brady Derr went 2-for-3 against Emmaus while also reaching base on a walk.
Brunner got the win, allowing one hit and one earned run over five innings. He struck out seven Hornets while walking just one. Marsteller struck out four batters and walked none over two hitless innings.