The wait is over students of Skyline, as the Trojans are ready to unsheathe their bats and begin there next campaign to conquer the Coast North Conference at home on Mar. 1 against Cañada College.
Led by a strong core group of sophomores including infielder Matt Andreoli, catcher Matt Lucchesi, outfielder Jarrod Esquibel, and infielder Ricky Molina, with the addition of talented freshman outfielders Jimmy Parque and Rashad Taylor this team will score plenty of runs.
Rashad Taylor is the main offensive weapon as he leads the team in home run (4), RBIs (12), hits (17), triples (3), slugging percentage (.974), and stolen bases (6). Taylor is second in batting average (.447) and on base percentage (.558).
“Rashad Taylor in the three spot, there is a reason why he was drafted, he has four home runs already, [he has] not even come close to reaching his potential,” says Skyline coach Dino Nomicos.
So far, lead off man Jimmy Parque has had a good pre-season batting .273 with 9 hits, scoring 8 runs, and drawing 10 walks. He should do an excellent job of getting on base, and setting the table for the big bats in the middle of the lineup.
The other two players rounding out the beginning of the formidable Trojans lineup are infielders Jimmy McCarthy and Matt Andreoli, both of whom have on-base-percentages over .455.
Led by catcher Matt Lucchesi, the end of the lineup should nicely compliment the beginning of the lineup.
“What [the bottom of the lineup] lacks in strength, meaning [they] are not going to hit homeruns, we can do some other things, like hit and runs,” said coach Nomicos “fundamentally they can do other things,[like] bunt and play fundament baseball.”
For this team, the wild card is the pitching staff. When pitching well, the Trojans look unbeatable as their offense is going to score regardless, but when the pitching struggles the team becomes vulnerable, as they have lost 3 games because of bullpen issues in the final innings up to this point.
Pitchers Greg Gonzalez and Danny Orlick are the number one and two starters. The third spot, as coach Nomicos says, is up in the air and will come down to whoever has the hot hand. However, look for Jesse Orozco who has only allowed teams to bat .205 in his 10.2 innings pitched, Aaron Bjorkquist who is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA, or David Parshall who has an opponent’s batting average of .182 to step up and play a major role in the success of the pitching staff. One of these pitchers will have to play consistently for this team to have a legitimate chance at winning the Coast Conference North title and advancing far into the postseason.
But as coach Nomicos says “it is a new day,” and the Trojans will go out swinging no matter what the outcome.
