Every day, a different hero for College of Marin. On Thursday, April 20th it was Dominic Burke's turn as he went five for five with three RBIs and two runs scored as the Mariners grabbed a 6-3 win in Fairfield against Solano College. Jason Wutsch earned the win in relief of starter Chris Allen and Bret Bowyer got the final seven outs to earn the save.
Burke led off the game with a single, but was stranded on the bases in the first inning. Bryan Jakiemiec had a one out triple in the second but the Mariners could not bring him around.
Chris Allen held the Solano bats silent until the bottom of the fourth as a two out single plated the Falcons first run from second. The Mariners responded quickly in the top of the fifth as Heimbroadt reached on an error and scored on a double by Burke.
Marin took their first lead in the top of the sixth as lead off singles by Jakob Davidson and Jake Munoz put runners on the corners. With one away, a double steal eliminated Munoz at second, but allowed Davidson to come home to put Marin up 2-1.
The lead was short-lived as Cameron Michael homered for the second consecutive day in the bottom of the sixth to knot the game at 2-2.
In the top of the seventh a pair of walks and a trio of wild pitches put Heimbroadt and Christian Merriwether at second and third with nobody out. Burke lined a single to score a pair and advanced to second on an error. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Marcus Chiu.
Despite the 5-2 Marin lead, the game was still in question. Solano put runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the seventh. They scored their third run courtesy of a ground out, and loaded the bases with two away. Bowyer was summoned from the bullpen and coaxed a fly out to end the threat and the inning.
Bowyer hurled a perfect eighth inning before Burke was at it again in the top of the ninth. He led off with a single and moved to second on a single by Chiu and scored on Adam Hussain's RBI single.
Bowyer pitched through a pair of singles to retire Solano in the ninth and earn his sixth save of the season.
Burke was the motor that drove the Mariners as he scored or drove in five of the team's six runs. The freshman is hitting .361 on the season with 14 walks and just 11 strikeouts on the year.
The win advanced the Mariners record to 14-3 in conference, one game closer to a Bay Valley Conference title.