The Skyline Trojans defeated the Cabrillo Seahawks 7-5 in its first conference home game of the season thanks to timely hitting and a strong outing by freshman starting pitcher Dylan Mcdonald. Kasi Pohahau led the Trojan comeback with his two-out RBI double in the seventh inning, his only hit in the game.

The Terra Nova product got into some trouble early on in the third inning already given up a run in the second, coming from a two-out single. Cabrillo had the bases loaded with nobody out and after a diving effort from right fielder Anthony Masetti who couldn’t squeeze the ball into his glove, Cabrillo added a second run. Jonah Shabry of Cabrillo added with his big two-out single off Mcdonald hit that drove in two more runs giving the Seahawks a 4-0 lead.

Skyline was fortunate to escape another shutdown inning from Cabrillo starting pitcher Trent Walker, who held the Trojans hitless through the first two innings. An RBI groundout from Andrew Roy along with Mitchel Plane stealing home on a trick play gave Skyline some life after three innings.

From there, Mcdonald settled into the game and coasted along with only 14 pitches needed for the fourth and fifth inning.

More timely hitting for Skyline came from first baseman Daniel Sahagun, who delivered on a two-out, two-run single tying the game at four.

Cabrillo then had the opportunity to jump on Skyline in the sixth inning with runners at the corners and only one out but Mcdonald remained poised even with his pitch count at 75. A sacrifice fly was all Cabrillo could get out of the inning, retaking the lead 5-4.

The Seahawks then brought in new pitcher Cody Brown who walked Skyline’s Leo Espinoza to start the inning. An error on second baseman Shabry along with a sacrifice bunt from Mitchel Plane gave Skyline runners at second and third with only one out for sophomore Kaleb Keelean, who grounded out to second, but tied the game at 5 going into the seventh inning.

Mcdonald’s six-pitch inning kept Cabrillo at bay and ended his solid performance.

“He threw strikes, he got squeezed a little bit by the umpire, but he kept us in it,” said Dino Nomicos, head baseball coach of the men’s team.

A leadoff walk led to Noah Marcelo stealing second and Pohahau driving him in with his double into left, giving Skyline their first lead of the game.

“I was looking to drive the ball somewhere into left and be aggressive on the first two pitches,” said Pohahau who has 12 RBIs in the season.

Nomicos then turned to his only left-handed pitcher, 5-foot 6-inch Derek Flowers looking to hold the lead. He did just that, retiring the first two Cabrillo hitters only throwing two pitches and striking out the third.

Skyline added an insurance run in the eighth inning and Flowers closed the door on Cabrillo with his fifth save of the season where he is second best in the state. With a team of 24 freshmen, Skyline looks to be a young, yet tough opponent in conference play.