Following a pair of disappointing losses last week, the College of Marin Baseball team has turned it around this week. Following a 12-5 thrashing of Contra Costa on Tuesday, the Mariners dominated Solano College 11-4 on Thursday in Kentfield. Cooper Casad started and threw seven very effective innings while Matthew Tarantino had three hits including a double, homerun and five RBI.

The Mariners' bats exploded from the outset as Chris Hayman opened the bottom of the first with a double. With one out Tarantino blasted a ball over the fence for a two run homer, his fourth of the season. Ryan Schalch followed Tarantino made it back to back home runs to give College of Marin a three run lead.

Casad breezed through the first six frames for the Mariners allowing just five base runners over that period. The Mariners tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth as Schalch singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Paul Kennedy. Solano scored their only run off of Casad in the seventh with a one out double and two out RBI single. Casad finished the game with a line score of seven innings pitched, six hits and one run allowed along with four strikeouts.

With a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh the Mariners could have just relied on their bullpen to put the game away. However, the offense opted to make the game a laugher. After loading the bases with no outs, Tarantino lined a two run double to make the score 6-1. Another run came in on an RBI ground out and Kennedy plated another with an RBI single to give Marin a seven run cushion.

Solano cut into the Marin lead in the eighth, scoring three unearned runs with two outs. A walk followed by an error put two on with two outs before back to back RBI singles, followed by an RBI double allowed three to score. College of Marin quickly responded with three of their own in the bottom half courtesy of a Jaymes Potts RBI triple, a Tarantino RBI single and a run scoring hit from the bat of Marcus Chiu for an 11-4 advantage. Chris Moreno closed out the game in the ninth with a scoreless innings.

The Mariners are in the hunt for a perfect three game week and travel to Napa Valley College for a noon showdown on Saturday.