The wind was whipping the flags on the Skyline home turf, and the Ohlone bats were whipping the baseball in a victory over Skyline.

The fourth place Trojans took on the powerhouse 24-8 record Renegades in a battle where a win meant Skyline could have overtaken second place. Although injury riddled, they fought with valiant effort in defeat.

Skyline struck first in the first inning from leadoff hitter Phil Caulfield reaching base on an errant throw, outfielder Joey Carney drawing a walk, and infielder Lance Montano loading the bases on a single, setting up Carney to score on a fielder’s choice at second base off the bat of outfielder Nick McHugh, who was credited with the RBI.

The first inning ended 1-0.

Pitcher Cage Cascone made his first ever starting assignment on the mound in a solid effort where he lasted 5.2 innings.

“My shoulder was bugging me, I tweaked it in my sleep the other night so I went out there and didn’t really try to overpower anyone, just wanted to pitch for contact.” said Cascone. “But I felt pretty good out there today.”

Head coach Dino Nomicos praised the right handed sophomore in his first start.

“We’re thin because of our injuries, so we wanted to start him and he did a great job”, Nomicos said. “He kept us close but they (Ohlone) got a key hit in the fifth inning on the double and that was the difference in the game.”

Cascone logged five strikeouts against the strong Ohlone hitters, but gave up a walk to Jacob DiThomas in that fifth inning, which became a run on the double to deep right center field by Daniel Parsons. Skyline led 3-1 after 4 1/2 innings.

Parsons started the Ohlone score on that hit and said, “Well, it’s just really about being prepared. Like the coach, we have a good team and everyone’s pretty solid all the way through. It’s just about being prepared when your number is called, that’s all. Just sitting on a good pitch to hit.”

The the sixth inning was Cascone’s downfall. He walked Josh Egan with two outs which would be the beginning of the Renegades’ rally to take the lead.

Josh Roman singled up the middle, and Bret Adami ended Cascone’s day with a two RBI double. Renegades tied the game 3-3.

Nomicos sent Bryan Hidalgo out to take the ball from Cascone, but he quickly gave up a deep double near the left field wall to his first batter Gunnar David who cleared the bases. Ohlone took the lead 4-3 by the end of their half inning.

Renegades struck again in the seventh, tacking on two more runs that started with Parsons reaching on a single, a sacrifice, but advancing him to second, Brock Pradere moving Parsons to third on a single, and Jordan Meier RBI singled him home, making the score 5-3.

A throwing error on a pick-off attempt at third cost the Trojans another run. 6-3 Ohlone.

Looking to mount a comeback, Trojans added a run in the seventh, making it 6-4, but the Renegades tacked on insurance in the ninth where Egan crushed a two run home run to right field.

With the score 8-4 in the bottom of the ninth, a Skyline comeback looked bleak, but two hits and an extra run made things interesting. It still wasn’t enough. The Trojans were downed 8-5 on a game ending double play.