Two days after being thwarted by an excellent pitching performance by Napa, Marin's Chase Gardner opted to repay the favor. After Marin was limited to a run on two hits in Tuesday's loss to Napa, the Mariners allowed Napa just five hits in a 3-0 shutout on Thursday.
College of Marin got on the board early as they scored twice before taking the field for defense. Dominic Burke led off with a single and advanced to second on a base hit by Jake Munoz. Marcus Chiu lined a ball to the gap that scored Burke while Munoz advanced to third, however Chiu was thrown out trying to reach second. Adam Hussain followed with an RBI groundout to give Marin a 2-0 lead.
Gardner was excellent on the hill, as he didn't allow a hit until the third inning. Napa put two on and two out in the bottom of the third, but Gardner struck out Napa's Donnie Gardiner to end the threat and the inning.
In the top of the fourth Marin added another run courtesy of a home run by MacLean Meyn. The Mariners threatened again in the top of the sixth but failed to score. Chiu led off with a walk but was thrown out at third after a single by Meyn. A single, passed ball and a walk loaded the bases with two away but Pete Armusewicz was unable connect and the score remained 3-0 in favor of Marin.
Gardner ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the seventh after an error and hit by pitch put two on with one out. Bret Boywer relieved Gardner and promptly got a ground ball to third that turned into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
After a 1-2-3 top of the eighth, Boywer faced a bit of adversity in the bottom half as a single and error put runnres at the corners for Napa with nobody out. Bowyer seems to excel in challenging situations and delivered a strikeout, lineout and ground out to keep Napa off the board. The home team put one on in the ninth but failed to score as Boywer locked down the save.
Gardner earned the win in an outing where he threw six and a third innings allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out seven. Boywer got the final eight outs of the game with a pair of strikeouts. At the plate for Marin Jake Munoz had three hits and scored a run while Meyn had two hits including a home run.
The rubber game of the three-game series between Napa and Marin is Saturday at Napa at 1:00PM.