Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 GALLATIN, Tenn. – No. 2 Parkland baseball split a doubleheader at Volunteer State on Monday, February 25, to open their 2019 baseball season. The Cobras dropped the opener 4-3 before responding with a dominant 12-0 shutout in game two.
 
Sophomore infielders Trevor Minder and Damian Pierce led the Cobras on offense with a combined five hits and seven runs batted in. Shortstop Trevor Minder led the team with four RBI and two extra-base hits, including Parkland's first of three home runs. Freshmen outfielders Corey Price and Jeremiah Lebron joined Minder in going yard to open the season.
 
On the mound, Sam Ballard picked up the Cobra win in game two behind eight strikeouts over three innings while only giving up one hit and walking two. Ryan Culley started the first game, going four innings and striking out eight.
 
Game 1: Parkland 3, Volunteer State 4
 
A back-and-forth battle to start the season for Parkland, the lead changed hands four times over the middle innings, beginning with a solo home run by the Pioneers in the bottom of the second inning. The Cobras responded in the following half inning, taking advantage of a dropped third strike and a hit by pitch, taking a 2-1 lead on a Corey Price sacrifice fly.
 
After Volunteer State tied the game with a run in their half of the third, Trevor Minder played long ball for the Cobras' first home run of the season and its second lead of the day. However, the lead was again short lived as the Pioneers scored for third straight inning on a two-run homer that proved to be the difference.
 
Ricky Castro held the home team in check with three strikeouts over two perfect innings of work, but the Cobras were unable to push across the tying run in their last three turns at bat.
 
Game 2: Parkland 12, Volunteer State 0 (5 inn.)
 
Parkland bounced back in game two to pick up their first win of 2019 behind a 12-run attack that was backed by a one-hit shutout from three Cobra hurlers that didn't allow a hit after a Pioneer single to open the bottom of the first.
 
Scoring in each of the first three innings, Damian Pierce brought in his first of three RBI of the game with a single that scored Price in the top of the first. After a scoreless frame from Sam Ballard, the Cobras made it 3-0 on a pair of solo home runs from Corey Price and Jeremiah Lebron.
 
Still leading 3-0 to start the third, the Cobras took advantage of four walks and two Pioneer errors to blow the game open with an eight-run frame. The big blow of the inning came from Minder with a bases-loaded clearing double.
 
Picking up where Ballard left off, relievers Ty Rybarzyk and Cody Hawthrone combined for two hitless innings and five strikeouts to close out the five-inning victory.
 
Up next, Parkland will return to the Volunteer State for five games in three days in Millington, Tennessee. Playing twice on Friday (3/1) and Saturday (3/2) and a single game on Sunday (3/3), the Cobras will face Iowa Central, Southeastern, North Iowa Area and Rend Lake.