North Parkland came into the Region 2 tournament playing a little flat against host team Quakertown last Friday, but the Buffaloes took advantage of the fact that the tournament is double-elimination. They came around in their second game and downed Birches 8-6 with Owen Ondrejca, Joe Algard and Cole Skrapits picking up three hits and scoring two runs. Skrapits also drove in two runs for North Parkland after a 1-for-3 performance in the opening game.

“Compared to yesterday, I think our approach was much better,” said Skrapits after the win. “We had 15 hits today and we have to get hits to win. I don’t think we could have done a better job at the plate today. Fifteen hits are pretty crazy. We were a little flat yesterday and could have done better at the plate, but we came back today.”

Skrapits lined a single to center in the fourth to drive in a run and later scored on a wild pitch. In the seventh he again drove in a run with a single to right and scored when Ondrejca followed with an RBI double to left. The heroics in the top of the seventh followed a two-run bottom of the sixth by Birches that tied the game 6-6.

“It was building up the whole game and then that was the point where I was thinking ‘we have to really lock in here’ and then we just went out there and Sean (Rivera) got on and I got on and Owen drove me in,” said Skrapits. “It was a great game.”

Algard threw five innings for North Parkland to get the win and Matt Razzis followed with one inning and David Sepko put down Birches in the seventh to get the save.

The win put the Buffaloes into an elimination game against South Parkland on Sunday and the Trojans were the ones who were able to come out on top in a wild 10-9 game that went eight innings.

The second loss eliminated North Parkland, which came into the tournament as the Lehigh Valley Legion tournament champions, from the regional tournament, keeping the Buffs from reaching the state tournament, which begins this weekend.

Jake Barto led the Buffaloes in hitting, going 5-for-11 (.456) with two runs scored and an RBI. Skrapits finished 4-for-10 (.400) with four runs and two RBI. Algard and Allan Burgos were both 4-for-11 (.364) with Algard scoring four times and driving in three and Burgos scoring twice with one RBI. Rivera was 3-for-10 (.300) and scored three times, while Tyler McNicholas came off the bench and went 3-for-5 (.600) with a run scored and two driven in.

On the mound, Algard threw five innings and allowed three earned runs and Sepko was the only pitcher to appear in two games, allowing one run in two innings and recording a save against Birches.