Skyline’s men’s baseball team fell short after a late rally by Cabrillo College on April 13.

Cabrillo was able to rally six runs in the top of the ninth inning to steal the game against the Trojans 9-5. With the loss, Skyline now sits at a 23-10 record which made them drop down to third place in the Coast Pacific division.

Ray Falk started for Skyline, pitching six innings before being replaced by Austin Conour. Both pitchers held Cabrillo to seven hits and two runs.

Cabrillo’s starting pitcher Alex Trautner was able to control the Trojans for most of the game. Trautner struck out 10 of the 33 batters he faced through eight innings.

Skyline struggled at bat this game, only registering five hits through seven innings. They were also shutout in three of those innings

Ramon Enriquez was able to put Skyline on the board with a RBI to bring Kaimana Bartolome to home plate.

Momentum seemed to shift toward Skyline’s dugout in the eighth inning as they began to get people in scoring position. With one out, Felix Aberouette singled to bring Ryan McSwain home to score the second run for Skyline.

With Alberouette and Aaron Albaum on base, Cole Watts was subbed in as a designated hitter and hit a home run to take a three run lead against Cabrillo.

Watts, who has five saves for the season, was subbed in to pitch in the ninth inning but was unable to build off of his home run. Watts struggled on the mound and blew the save by giving up four runs in the closing inning, which proved to be too much to overcome.

Skyline struggled on both sides of the plate this match-up and it was apparent that the team was drained from the 16 inning game they played against Cabrillo two days earlier.

But like every other game this season, Skyline made a run to take the lead coming into the final inning. However, the pitching crew could not hold onto the win.

“We battled back,” Head coach Dino Nomicos said. “Other than the ninth inning I thought it was a good game… Whenever you score four runs and take the lead, your pitching staff needs to close the door in the bottom of the ninth and we failed to do that tonight.”

With such a let down loss, Nomicos feared it would carry to the next game against an Ohlone team they have struggled against all season.

“This was a tough emotional game,” Nomicos said. “I worry about the next one… We could be flat because of this game, losing the way we did.”

Coach Nomicos’ worries were correct as Skyline proceeded to drop their next two games against Ohlone (7-1) and Hartnell (7-6). With the addition of these two losses, the current losing streak for the Trojans now sits at 3 games.

With two weeks left in the season and a playoff spot on the ropes, Nomicos emphasized that the games still count, but the team has not responded.

“We’re still there but we have to keep playing, [we’ve] got to win,” Nomicos said. “We got five games left, so we’ll see… It’s a long two weeks.”