Great pitching and defense has led to three consecutive Bay Valley Conference Championships for the COM Mariners. Dominic Garihan took that motto to heart on Monday, by throwing a no hitter with 17 strikeouts in a 14-0 win over City College of San Francisco.
The freshman right hander from Casa Grande High School was nearly untouchable yielding no walks and hitting just a single batter. One CCSF player reached on a dropped third strike while two others reached on errors.
Garihan was dominant from the start as he retired the side in order in the bottom of the first. He faced some trouble in the second as the first batter reached on a dropped third strike and advanced to third on a throwing error with one out. Garihan did not break a sweat striking out the following hitter and inducing a ground out to end the inning.
The result of the game was hardly in doubt after the Mariners scored nine times in the top of the third inning. College of Marin loaded the bases with a pair of hit batters and a walk before Chris Hayman singled in Jaymes Potts to open the scoring. Tyler Torres followed with a two run double. The fourth run scored on an error before four consecutive run scoring singles plating another five runs for a 9-0 lead.
The Mariners tacked on another three in the fourth inning as they loaded the bases with a double and a pair of walks before Torres cleared the bases with a three run double. Two more runs scored on an error in the top of the fifth for the 14-0 run advantage.
Garihan retired 17 consecutive batters including the side in order from the third through the seventh innings. He did not allow another San Francisco batter to reach until the bottom of the eighth inning as the leadoff hitter was awarded first on catcher's interference. Garihan proceeded by striking out the side in the inning. He shrugged off a hit batter with one out in the ninth to finish out the no hitter with a strikeout and groundout to second.
The Mariners enjoy a week break before traveling to the College of San Mateo on Tuesday, February 23rd.