The Trojans headed into Feb. 28 with a 2-9 record and ready to take on third-ranked Chabot College from Hayward in their first regular-season game.

The Trojan’s put Julian Merryweather on the hill to start the game. Last time he started was against Mendocino on Feb. 21, when he went two innings giving up five runs on six hits. This time was different. He set the tempo for the day with a quick 1, 2, 3 top of the first. Throughout the game he stayed in control of his pitches and delivered strikes.

“I made a few adjustments,” Merryweather said. “My coach, Johnny, really helped get me through that, and I’m back to where I should be. So I feel good now.”

The Gladiator’s jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the first 3 innings, but then the offense hit a spark. The Trojans were getting key hits they needed and had been waiting for. This looked like their game. After a few minor errors, everything seemed to be coming together. The pitching, hitting and defense looked strong.

In the bottom of the fourth, right-fielder Trojan Anthony Papaleo hit two RBI doubles to help get the Trojans on the board. He wasn’t the only one of the day that came up with a huge hit. In the bottom of the fifth, shortstop Justin Chapman had a single, Matt Page then had a double because of an error, and outfielder Cory Fauble followed with an RBI single. Third basemen Anthony Gutierrez was up next and hit an RBI double.

The Trojans had the bases loaded a few times and got the hits that they had been looking for back in the preseason.

After holding a strong 4-3 lead for most of the game, the Gladiators tied it up. Then, in the bottom of the eighth, the Trojans regained the lead at 5-4. Ryan Bender hit a single to score Papaleo. Merryweather went 7 strong innings, allowed only four runs, three of them earned on five hits.

Then the top of the ninth rolled around. The Trojans were holding a one-point lead and only needed three outs to win the game. This is where the game went sour. The Gladiators just would not go away. They scored three runs in that inning to take the lead to 7-5 into the bottom of the ninth.

The Trojans weren’t going down without a hard fight. They had the bases loaded with no outs and ended up only being able to score once in the inning to take a 7-6 loss against Chabot. The Trojans had the chance to win the game, but it just slipped away.

Coach Nomicos had this to say about the loss after the game: “We gave it away.” He continued, saying, “We had many chances to get some runs, we didn’t get any clutch hitting at all, our bullpen didn’t do the job coming in to relief. We just gave it away, we had them, we had the game, we beat ourselves today. The first seven innings, that was us. We were prepared, Julian was pitching great, we were competing, we just made little mistakes that when you play against the third-ranked team in the state, they are going to beat you on those mistakes.”

The Trojans have one more preseason game on March 2 at Skyline. The game starts at 2 p.m. On March 6, the Trojans will also be at home for their third regular-season game against Cabrillo College from Aptos. That game will start at 12 p.m.

To watch a slideshow of this game, click here.