Skyline baseball sweeps past College of San Mateo and into first in Coast North Conference

For the moment, Skyline owns a half-game lead over second-place Chabot (6-2, 11-16), though, with the Trojans out of action over the weekend, the Gladiators can make it up the deficit Saturday at De Anza.

Sophomore cleanup hitter Vinny Smith enjoyed a remarkable series, going 7 for 11 with two home runs and seven RBIs. Smith fell a double shy of the cycle Friday, going 4 for 5 with a triple and a home run. His two-run home run in the first got Skyline on the board. Sophomore Trey Johnson added an RBI triple to make it 3-0 in the first, and finished 3 for 4 with three legs of the cycle, a single, a double and a triple.

Backed by a winning effort from sophomore left-hander Steven Dalton, the Trojans added to their lead in the middle innings with two runs in the fifth, and an RBI single from Smith in the sixth to make it 6-0. But the Bulldogs made it interesting in the seventh, hanging a 4-spot on the board, fueled by a three-run pinch-hit triple from Grayson Munoz. Joseph Hoskins followed with a two-out single to drive in pinch runner Ethan Lopez, but Skyline reliever Franco Moran kept the potential tying run in the yard with a fly out to center off the bat of Carter Bleeker to retire the side.

Dalton earned the win, allowing three runs on four hits through six-plus innings of work. Moran earned the save, allowing out run on four hits through three innings to close it out. CSM starter A.J. Minyard took the loss through 1 1/3 innings. His record falls to 3-3.

Skyline totaled 16 hits on the day, and finished with 37 hits in the series. The Trojans are hitting .330 as a team, ranking seventh in the state.