A day after clinching the team's fourth BVC title in the past five years, the Mariners calmly and quietly finished the year with a victory as they downed hosts Los Medanos College 6-3 on Friday. Chase Gardner started and threw seven quality innings while recording his seventh win of the year.
The Mariners got on the board early with three in the top of the first inning. Dominic Burke led off with a single and moved to third on a double by Marcus Chiu. Jake Munoz followed with a two run double and moved to third on an error. He came around to score on a ground out MacLean Meyn with one away.
Gardner started the game strong, striking out the side in the top of the first. He remained unscathed until the bottom of the fourth as the Mustang's leadoff batter walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, and advanced to third on a ground out. A sacrifice fly plated the runner for Los Medanos' first run of the game, which came without a hit.
Marin got that run back quickly in the top of the fifth. Dominic Burke singled and stole second before scoring on a RBI single off the bat of Chiu. Gardner remained on the hill with a 4-1 advantage and plowed through Los Medanos in the fifth and sixth innings. The Mariners added two more in the top of the seventh as Burke walked, and stole second. Marcus Chiu followed with a walk and Jake Munoz lined a single to score Burke. Chiu came around on a throwing error on the same play to put the Mariners ahead 6-1.
Los Medanos had their largest threat of the game in the seventh inning against Gardner as two men reached with one out. An RBI single was misplayed that allowed two runs to score and put the tying run on deck with one away. However, Gardner bared down and retired the final two batters of the inning to quell the threat.
Jason Wutsch pitched a scoreless eighth for the Mariners and Bret Bowyer pitched the ninth inning for his seventh save of the season.
Marcus Chiu was two for two to finish his regular season with a .359 average along with 13 home runs and 44 RBIs. Gardner allowed four hits and three runs (two earned) while striking out nine in seven innings. He earned seven wins against no losses with a 1.76 ERA while striking out 82 in 71.2 innings pitched this season.
The Mariners finished the regular season with a 26-13 record including 17-4 in conference play. They will likely host in the first round of the State Playoffs which begin on Friday, May 5th at 2PM.