The Parkland High School baseball team has won seven of its opening eight games of the 2022 regular season. The fast start is exactly where head coach Kurt Weber thought his team would be, even if his team has not played its best yet.

“Certainly, we are happy with being 7-1,” said Weber. “I think at times we have looked like the team we were expecting to see but I know we can get better. The games have been spread out a bit, so it has been hard to get into a rhythm and we were not forced to get anyone rest. Now we are in a stretch where we play six games in eight days, so it goes from one extreme to the other. Now we need our depth to help us. I am excited to see who will step up.”

Weber believes that his lineup, one with depth and experience, has been key to the successful start to the season.

“Returning the majority of our hitting lineup we have been able to put up runs,” Weber said. “The guys understand the ‘team game’ style we like to play. Quality at-bats, apply pressure on the bases, move runners, productive outs, etc. I thought the game versus Nazareth was the way we want to play and the best example of who we can be.”

The lone loss came last Saturday against Liberty, an 11-1 defeat on the road. The Hurricanes’ only loss this season came against Nazareth.

“Our pitching staff is not a high strikeout kind of staff right now,” said Weber. “Teams will put the ball in play against us. You hope that we can play solid defense and turn most balls into outs and you also hope that teams get themselves out a bit with some bad at bats or approaches. To their credit Liberty really hit well throughout their entire lineup and on top of that we did not make some plays that extended innings for them which you just cannot do.”

But Parkland does not have to wait too long to bounce back as the Trojans host Liberty this week, four days after their set back to the ‘Canes. Weber wants to see how his guys respond to their first loss.

“Well due to the schedule without practices to get back to the grind we have to take advantage of our pre-games and work on the things in our control,” Weber said. “Pitching more effectively to get teams off balance, making plays and not give teams extra outs, and offensively limiting strikeouts and fly balls. And then we have to compete. You learn a lot about the potential of your team when they face adversity, so I am anxious to see our compete level...individually and as a group.”

Weber highlighted a couple of standouts of late.

“(Coastal Carolina commit) Blake Barthol has been great,” said Weber. “He plays shortstop and closes games for us. Bo Barthol has been great being the catalyst in the leadoff spot. (Junior) Jaiden Wanamaker has been one addition to the lineup that has really helped. He has given us quality at bats and has moved into the middle of our order. Owen DeLong was the one returning pitcher that was healthy game one and we leaned on him early and he really came through for us. Now we need to others to step up on the mound as the schedule picks up.”

Parkland finishes the week with Eastern Pennsylvania Conference games against Bethlehem Catholic, Stroudsburg and Whitehall in back-to-back-to-back days.