Skyline scored a win against Hartnell after a losing streak of three games.

On Saturday, March 11, the Skyline College Baseball team hosted Hartnell College for their eighteenth home game of the season. Skyline beat Hartnell 6-5, which secured their first win of the Coast Conference.

Hartnell started the game hard and fast at the top of the first inning when Kacee Takasaki hit a home run. Shortly after, Colby Hirano scored another run.

“Our offense continued to fight even if our first inning was tough for us,” said Cole Watts, the third pitcher of the game.

Joe Pratt, the second pitcher, also commented on Skyline’s struggles early in the game.

“[The game] was a good effort by our guys but there are some areas that we need to clean up and improve upon,” Pratt said.

Skyline was unable to catch up until the bottom of the second inning. By that point, the team reached their peak since they led by four points after Cole March, Mitchel Swanson, Aaron Albaum and Ryan McSwain scored.

“The other team threw their best pitchers against us and we went back and forth,” Head Coach Dino Nomicos said. “After we scored four runs by the fifth inning, Hartnell’s pitcher started to run out of gas.”

Watts shared the same sentiment.

“They threw their best guy at us,” Watts said. “They battled hard but luckily we were able to make it out eventually by piecing a few hits together.”

The game intensified at the top of the fifth inning after Hartnell scored another two runs, bringing the game to a tie. Pressure amounted over Skyline since they were unable to make a run to break the tie during the fifth. The pressure rose even more when Hartnell’s Kenji Yamaguchi scored a run at the top of the sixth inning.

From that point on, tension increased as it was a defensive battle. It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth inning, the decisive point of the whole game, that the last two runs were scored by Albaum and Kyle Barret.

The Trojans successfully prevented men from the opposing team to earn runs or batters to land bases since fielders caught some of Hartnell’s strongest hits. This is what placed Skyline in the advantage. In contrast, Hartnell struggled on the defensive side throughout the game for they missed far hits frequently. Hartnell’s men hardly backed down though.

Both Nomicos and Pratt said that the opposing team was typical in that they battled through with confidence. Skyline did not squeak out, but the closeness of the game shows how skilled the opposing team was.

Nomicos also praised the team’s efforts while on the offensive side.

“We came back with solid pitching and clutch hitting after facing two losses from tough opponents,” Nomicos said.

Nomicos noted that the team owes its victory to their perseverance.

“We didn’t get caught up when we were down a couple innings,” said Nomicos. “We kept fighting and that’s who we are. We definitely had solid pitching, which will always win the ball games.”

This week, Skyline will have played their fourth conference match against Hartnell in Salinas and will face Monterey Peninsula College today at home.

“It’s great to get our foot in the door during conference,” Watts said. “Hopefully this win will give us some momentum to keep the ball rolling.”