College of Marin took the first lead over the San Mateo Bulldogs on Tuesday, but it did not last, as Marin's bats went silent in a 4-1 "home" loss in San Mateo. Due to quirky scheduling the Mariners were officially the home team despite the game's location at the College of San Mateo.
Dominic Burke started for the Mariners and was effective through the first four innings as the Mariners tried to find some offense against San Mateo's Sean Prozell. The Mariners put runners on the corners in the bottom of the first but a double play erased the threat.
The Mariners did get on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Adam Hussain led off with a double. With one out he advanced to third on a balk before coming home on a wild pitch to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
The lead was unfortunately short lived as San Mateo rallied in the top of the fifth. They put runners at the corners with one out before an RBI single tied the game at 1-1. Dominic Burke did a good job limited the damage as he forced a fly out and aground out to end the inning with a tie. Marin put two on with two out in the bottom half of the inning, but Alex Davis flied out to end the threat.
San Mateo took the lead in the top of the sixth as a walk and a single put two on with two away. A pair of back to back RBI singles plated two runs for a 3-1 Bulldog's lead. Adam Hussain led off the bottom of the sixth with his second double of the game but was unable to advance as Marin failed to score. San Mateo added an unearned run in the top of the eighth to grab a three run advantage. The Mariners went in order in the bottom of the eighth and the ninth as they fell by a final score of 4-1.
Burke was saddled with the loss as he allowed three runs and five hits in 5.2 innings. Michael Benz, Will Zurcher, Jared Robison and Ryan Moyer combined for 3.1 innings and allowed just an unearned run between them.
Hussain had a pair of doubles and scored the Mariners only run Randy Fernandez and Alex Davis had the only other base hits for Marin.
Next up for Marin is another matchup with San Mateo, on Thursday, February 22nd.