The Skyline baseball team beat the Cañada College Colts 14-3 on Friday, March 20, sealing the three-game series in an explosive offensive performance. The Trojans took the second game of the series 13-6 and lost 13-10 in the first game.
Skyline scored 37 runs over the last three games, dominating the series with four home runs against Cañada’s collective 19 points and one home run.On top of moving up to a 4-2 conference record and a 20-6 overall record, the Trojans’ offensive highlights included a six-run eighth inning in the final game of the series on Friday, March 20.
Freshman Trojan outfielder Brayden Smith went 5-for-6 on Tuesday, March 17’s home game, landing another five-hit game on Friday.
Sophomore Trojan left-handed pitcher Steven Dalton allowed just one run and two walks in eight innings on Friday, while striking out eight Colts.
‘It felt good, let me … not try too hard,” Dalton said. “I trust my defense, my coach, and what they were calling.”
Dalton said the games let him get his “groove” and “trust the process.”
Smith, who scored 14 hits over the six conference games so far and 43 hits throughout the season, said he would “rather talk about the team more” than his own achievements.
“Our pitching was amazing today,” Smith said. “We just played really good collective baseball today.”
Trojan head coach Tony Brunicardi said he felt proud of his team’s offense, but that he and the team “have got to keep ourselves humble.”
“Offense can come and go. The big difference in the win is the pitching and defense,” Brunicardi said. “When we pitch and we play defense, we’re always going to give ourselves a really good chance to win, so that’s always our focus.”
Brunicardi called Dalton the team’s “ace,” both last year and this year, and said he trusts him to lead the rotation to wins.
“There’s a reason he was an all-American and our preseason all-American,” Brunicardi said. “That’s what Steven (Dalton) can be all about.”
Skyline faces the College of San Mateo Bulldogs in a three-game series, starting with an away game on Tuesday, March 24.
While the Bulldogs have a worse overall record than the Trojans, going 18-7 and 20-6 respectively, San Mateo has remained undefeated in its conference games so far.
