College of Marin Baseball rejoined the winner's circle on Friday at West Valley. The Mariners defeated the Vikings by a score of 7-4 to snap a seven-game losing streak. Owen Hamilton pitched 6.1 solid innings and the Mariners offense broke out of their early season funk to record 14 hits. Nick Caravello was the offensive star with four hits and three runs batted in on the day.
The Mariners got on the board early on as Jacob Berg tripled with one out in the top of the first inning. Caravello followed with a run scoring single to put Marin on top 1-0.
The lead lasted until the bottom of the second as West Valley put a man on second with two outs before a single tied the game up at 1-1.
College of Marin untied the game for good in the third as they put up a four spot. Eric Woodrow, batting leadoff for the first time this year, doubled and Berg doubled him in. Caravello delivered a run scoring single and reached third on a fielding error. After a pitching change Joey Loveless blasted a double to score Caravello before a two out sacrifice fly by Nick George put Marin on top 5-1.
Hamilton breezed through the third on the mound but wobbled a bit in the fourth. He allowed a two out run scoring single to cut the lead to 5-2 and West Valley added another run in the bottom of the fifth on a bases loaded wild pitch.
Both teams failed to score in the sixth inning but Marin added on in the seventh. The Mariners put two on with two outs for George who delivered a run scoring single for the team's sixth run.
Hamilton retired the first hitting in the seventh before giving way to Nick Kennison. The Mariners' reliever retired the final two batters.
Caravello added to his hit total in the eighth with another run scoring single. This time he plated Woodrow who tripled to lead off.
With Marin in control 7-3, West Valley did mount a mini rally as their leadoff hitter in the eighth inning blasted a homer off of Kennison to cut into Marin's advantage. It was the final run of the game as Marin could not score in the ninth and West Valley went in order in the bottom half.
Hamilton earned the victory for the Mariners with three strikeouts over 6.1 innings. He yielded seven hits and three runs during his stint. Kennison pitched the final 2.2 innings and allowed just the home run while striking out a pair.
Caravello had a double and three singles while driving in three and scoring a run of his own. Eric Woodrow had three hits including a double and a triple while scoring twice. Jacob Berg also had a nice day with a double, triple, RBI and two runs scored.
The Mariners have a few days off before they host a double header on Thursday, February 13th. They face the Lassen College Cougars at 10pm and the Mission College Saints at 2pm.