The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

There is a big difference between a standard rundown and a game of pickle. And the great thing about pickle is: It’s fun for everybody.

There were some great pickles yesterday in College of San Mateo’s 8-5 home win over Skyline. When it was all said and done, the game itself turned into something of a grand pickle.

What started as a scoreless pitchers duel through four innings, turned into a lopsided 7-1 CSM lead in the seventh, until Skyline rallied to get the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth.

Meanwhile, CSM had right fielder Joey Wallace taking on the outfield wall and saw freshman right-hander Nick Franquez emerge for the first save of his collegiate career.

“The intensity of Nick Franquez getting the ball and the intensity of Joey Wallace trying catch it, that’s why you win ballgames,” CSM manager Doug Williams said.

CSM (6-1 Coast Conference, 12-3 overall) had two other cards up its sleeve. One was starting pitcher Josh Trejo, who worked 6 2/3 strong innings to earn his first win of the year. In fact, it was the sophomore southpaw’s first decision of the season, despite it being his sixth start.

The other trump dealt by the Bulldogs was the small-ball card. All of CSM’s eight runs came in a three-inning span, during which the Bulldogs hit the ball safely out of the infield just four times.

“Even though we can swing the bats, we are committed to the short game,” Williams said. “And in the college game, that’s what you’ve got to be committed to.”

In the fifth, the Bulldogs plated two runs, both by virtue of the squeeze play. In the seventh, they set up a four-run rally with a walk, two bunt singles, before a fielding error with the bases loaded set up Nick White’s two-run single to left. The fourth run plated on a wild pitch.

The only extra-base hit amid the rallies was a two-run blast from sophomore slugger O’Koyea Dickson, his fifth of the season to move him into tie for the Coast Conference Golden Gate Division lead.

Trejo’s outing is pivotal, though, as the lefty leads the Bulldogs staff in starts. However, entering into yesterday’s game, he had totaled just 19 2/3 innings through six appearances. A lack of stamina stems from his having undergone Tommy John surgery in March of 2008. He excelled in his late-season comeback of 2009, holding opposing hitters to a .146 batting average over 28 2/3 innings. But, once again, that was in seven appearances, including five starts.

“Now I feel 100 percent. I feel a lot better now,” Trejo said. “As of today I feel really good.”

He turned and burned though Skyline’s lineup, tallying just 95 pitches thrown. At one point he retired 10 straight, a streak that got broken up by Cody Larson’s leadoff triple in the seventh, which was actually a would-be can of corn that got lost in the sun.

Before going under the knife, Trejo was on the prospect map as a 27th round draft pick by the Brewers in 2007 out of James Logan High. He was leaning towards another junior college program, but took a year off when he had to have his left elbow reconstructed. He joined the Bulldogs following the surgery and has since been rehabbing.

“Man, it feels great to be back,” Trejo said. “After all the hard work, I just keep pushing and all my teammates were behind me. … It just shows hard work pays off.”

Skyline (3-5, 10-9) plated single runs in the seventh and eighth. In the ninth, they rallied with hits from Devin Kelly, Jeff Thomas, Will Klein, and John Bordy. After walks to Lucas Hagberg and Mark Hoem, Franquez entered for CSM to strike out Larson and Nelson, Skyline’s Nos. 3 and 4 hitters.

Trojans lefty Steven Dea took the loss, dropping his record to 3-3. Skyline utilized three pitchers in the game.

“I was very happy with our pitchers,” Skyline manager Dino Nomicos said. “We just made some errors that led to some runs.”

Nomicos took exception with ball-strike calls early and often throughout the game. According to Nomicos, it wasn’t the reason Skyline lost, but “it put us into a bad offensive tempo.”

“But, it is what it is,” Nomicos said.

Skyline’s best opportunity to jump ahead came in the second. With two on and one out, Kevin McAlindon topped a grounder to third which the CSM infield turned into a unlikely around-the-horn double play. It included a great dust-up at second base when Kelly slid hard and upended Bulldogs second baseman Thomas Wood as he made the pivot to first. It was good, clean, intense baseball, according to Wood.

“It doesn’t take something like that to get our team up, because we’re already up,” Wood said. “We’re going to play (innings) one through nine.”