Skyline College baseball claims first outright conference title since 1979

The Trojans (16-4 Coast North, 30-8 overall) grinded out a 10-2 victory at Chabot College on the final day of the regular season to claim the program’s first conference championship since 2004 — a co-championship Skyline shared with College of San Mateo — and the first outright championship since 1979.

“This means so much to me but what really makes this special is doing it for Dino,” said Michael Sarhatt, who was on the mound when the final out was recorded. “This is the house that Dino built. And we finally did it for him. I love that guy. We wouldn’t be here as a program without him. And to do it for him meant a lot.”

Sarhatt worked double duty in the win, going 1 for 2 with two RBIs and a run scored, while also closing out the win by pitching the ninth inning in relief. With one on and one out, Sarhatt pounded the bottom of the strike zone with a hard fastball and induced a double-play grounder for second baseman Trey Zahursky, to shortstop Jace Jeremiah, to first baseman Cam Grant to end it, setting off a celebration in the middle of the infield.

“I said it too, I was like: ‘There it is! There it is!’” Sarhatt said. “Trey and Jace did their thing, Cam with the stretch, and boom, a little mound celebration.”

The game-ending groundball being hit to Zahursky was fitting. The infielder is a freshman in name only, having redshirted at University of Nevada-Reno in 2019 before transferring to Skyline in 2020. He has now played three seasons with the Trojans, though his 2020 and ’21 seasons did not count toward his eligibility because of the pandemic.

Only sophomores Andrew Roy, Kasi Pahahau, Carlos Solis, and freshman Tyler White have been at Skyline longer than Zahursky.

“When we got shut down … two years ago, I know for sure we had a team that was this caliber that could have done this,” Zahursky said. “So, it was disappointing. Then the year in between, it wasn’t exactly the Skyline team we could have had. … Then you come back to something like this and, I knew we had a great team, and we had guys come in and — this is awesome.”

Starting pitcher Rowan Barnes earned the win, working six innings while allowing two runs on seven hits. His record improves to 8-2 for a Skyline pitching staff that closes the regular season with a 2.54 staff ERA, tops in the state.

The Trojans got on the scoreboard early, rallying for three runs in the first. Dominic Meza broke through with the bases loaded on a two-run single. Sarhatt followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

Chabot (12-8, 24-14) cut it to 3-2 in the third on back-to-back solo home runs by Justin Durflinger and Jonathan Gazdar. But Barnes buckled down from there, retiring 10 of the next 11 batters he faced.

The freshman right-hander seemed to be at his best when his back was against the wall. In the sixth, with Skyline clinging to a 4-2 lead as Chabot loaded the bases with one out, Barnes exploited the bottom of the Gladiators’ batting order with a strikeout and a looping fly out to center to strand the bases loaded.

“When he gets there … everybody keeps telling him to just keep challenging people,” Skyline catcher Jeremy Keller said, “because he has the stuff to do it. … If you keep challenging and showing confidence on the mound, your stuff takes over. And I think he trusts in that, and everybody else trusts in that, and then the energy just takes over.”

Skyline added single runs in the fourth, seventh and eighth before breaking through for four runs in the ninth. Sarhatt had a big hit in the ninth with an RBI single. Zahursky followed by putting a ball in play that went for a throwing error and two runs scored on the play.

“That’s the thing about this team, we have an ability to win in a lot of different ways,” Brunicardi said. “And these guys have grinded out a lot of games to this point. And it may not have shown in the same way … but we have grinded and really matured as a group. And it’s been really fun to watch.”

Meza was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Zahursky added two hits. Relief pitcher Nick Balch fired two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth to earn a hold.

Grant, who gloved the final out at first, dedicated the win to Nomicos, affectionately known as “Dizzy,” a nickname bestowed upon him in the early years of his coaching tenure with the Trojans by former Skyline hitting coach John Quintell.

“This one’s for Dizzy, for sure,” Grant said. “It’s an amazing championship for him. He’s built this program from the bottom up. There are no other words than this is for him. … And we’re not done.”

California Community College postseason play opens with next week’s play-in round. Skyline will open at home next Friday in the head-to-head, best-of-three regional round. Playoff brackets will be determined Sunday.