Just a few days after being walloped by San Mateo 13-4, the Mariners had a chance to get even. A 1-1 tie was blown open in the eighth and ninth innings as the College of Marin Baseball scored six runs in a late inning awakening to grab the 7-1 victory. Chase Gardner was magnificent for Marin in seven sparkling innings while Jake Munoz was the sparkplug at the plate.
The game began scoreless until San Mateo broke through in the bottom half of the third inning. A walk, groundout and passed ball but a runner on third with two outs before Mark Quinby doubled to left center to give San Mateo a 1-0 lead.
It took a couple of innings before Marin responded to tie the game. In the top of the fifth with one out, Mariner's Adam Hussain singled. With two outs he went to third before scoring on Munoz's single up the middle to tie the game at one run a piece.
With Chase Gardner on the hill, the opposition of San Mateo had few chances to score after the third. Gardner retired the side in order in the fourth, fifth and six innings before running into a bit of a jam in the seventh. A leadoff walk followed by a sac bunt put the go ahead run at second with one out. After a strikeout, an infield single put runners on the corners with two outs before Gardner reared back and struck out San Mateo's Daniel Page to end the inning. Gardner's final line read seven innings, one unearned run and three hits while striking out ten and walking just three.
Marin got to work in the top of the eighth as Munoz led off with a single. After Christian Merriwether walked, both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Marcus Chiu followed by beating out a soft ground ball to give Marin a 2-1 lead. Jakob Davidson reached on a fielder's choice, scoring another run and Alex Davis followed with an RBI single to push Marin's lead to 4-1.
Bret Boywer relieved Gardner and retired the side in the bottom of the eighth inning, before the Mariners got to work again in the ninth. Hussain led off with a single and went to second on an error. Jacob Kimbrough's bunt single put runners on the corners with no outs before Hussain scored on a balk. Munoz knocked his third hit of the game and stole second to put runners at second and third. Merriwether drove a fly ball deep enough to drive in Kimbrough before Dominic Burke singled in Munoz to give the Mariners a 7-1 lead. Bowyer retired San Mateo in order in the bottom of the ninth for the save.
It was Marin's fifth win of the season against seven losses, while San Mateo was charged with just their second loss of the year. Munoz was 3 for 3 with two runs scored and RBI and two stolen bases while Adam Hussain had two hits and two runs scored.
Third game of the series takes place on Friday, February 24th at College of Marin at 1pm. A tentative fourth game will take place at San Mateo on Saturday, February 25th if weather permits.