This baseball season is starting up strong, as the Trojans tear through the pre-conference games.

The pre-conference games started with a triple slaughter of Barstow through Jan. 27 and 28. Over the three games, our Trojans outscored Barstow an awe-inspiring 44-13, something near unheard-of in baseball. Coach Nomicos praised his troops for keeping their trademark ironclad offense, saying that they “did what we should do.” When playing a weaker team, Nomicos explained, usually the better team will fall to their level and play only as well as they have to in order to secure victory. Skyline admirably avoided this common trap and reveled in the defeat of Barstow.

The next game on Jan. 31 took place against last year’s state champs, Santa Rosa. Despite holding the lead early in the game, Santa Rosa regained the upper hand and our Trojans were unable to recover in time. Coach Nomicos makes it clear, however, that Skyline is working on its defense, and with enough effort should defeat Santa Rosa at their next match-up.

For their next three games, the Trojans braved the stifling 90 degree heat of Palm Springs from Feb. 2-4. The first game was against the aptly named College of the Desert, who were crushed under the Trojan machine by a brutal 16-9. On Feb. 3, the Trojans went up against Grossmont, a baseball team which traditionally poses quite a challenge. By the sixth inning, the score was tied at four, but then Grossmont broke away and stole the game at 11-5. On the final day in the desert, the battle-weary and heat-exhausted Trojans faced San Bernadino Valley. The game was very close and was finally decided by a questionable umpire call. As a result, San Bernadino walked away with an 8-7 win.

Coach Nomicos says that he is not disappointed by the Trojans 4-4 win/loss record so far this year- in fact, he is quite confident about this year’s prospects for the team.

“This is about where we want to be,” he said.

Skyline is one of the leaders of college baseball in this state, and with 18 games in the pre-season, he sees no reason to worry. One reason that he is confident of success is that the Trojans have been doing well, even at somewhat below full strength. Three pitchers have been unable to play this season due to injuries, but will have recovered and be ready to take the field by conference. The Trojan offense, as always, has shown great spirit and determination during each game. Coach Nomicos fully expects to win the State Conference Championship this year- the only potential challenge to the Trojan supremacy, he says, is the College of San Mateo, which recently lost a player to Skyline. Michael Aicardi, a sophomore hailing from San Francisco, has made the wise decision of joining up with our Trojans. Although he is out of play for two weeks due to knee surgery, he should be back out on the field in no time at all, and perhaps even making the winning play against his previous team.