The Mariners rallied from a seventh inning deficit to defeat the College of San Mateo Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. The Mariners salvaged the final game to avoid a sweep at the hands of San Mateo. Chris Allen was brilliant on the mound for the Mariners. He earned the win as his teammates who three in the seventh inning to take the lead. Nick Roth came on in relief and closed out the 3-2 win for Marin.
After a scoreless first inning, the Mariners threatened in the second. Adam Hussain singled with one out but was caught stealing. Dominic Burke followed with a single and James Harwell a walk, but a strikeout left two runners stranded.
In the third Randy Fernandez led off with a walk and Jake Munoz followed with a single to put runners at the corners. A wild pitch advanced Munoz to second, but Fernandez was thrown out at the plate. Alex Davis followed with a walk but a ground out and fly out ended the Mariners chances of scoring.
Chris Allen cruised through the first five innings, allowing just one single while striking out seven Bulldogs. The bottom of the sixth was a different story as San Mateo loaded the bases with two outs. A single to right scored the first run of the game but the runner from second was thrown out at third to limit the damage to just the one run.
The Mariners rallied in a most unusual way as they scored three times in the seventh without the courtesy of a single base hit. Harwell led off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Fernandez and Munoz followed with walks to load the bases. A pitching change ensued with benefitted Marin as a walk pitch tied the game at 1-1 as Harwell came around to score. Munoz scored on a passed ball to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead. Davis followed with a walk to reload the bases before MacLean Meyn launched a sacrifice fly to push across the innings' third run.
Allen retired the first batter of the seventh before being replaced by Roth. In relief, Roth pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth. He allowed a two out solo home run in the bottom of the ninth but got the final batter of the game on a groundout to secure the victory for the Mariners.
The Mariners had just four hits on the day, but worked eight walks. Randy Fernandez had three walks, while Munoz had two and a hit of his own.
Allen's 6.1 innings pitched and eight strikeouts helped improve his record to 5-0 this year with a 1.67 ERA and 40 strikeouts in just 32.1 innings pitched.
The Mariners have two days off before they travel to Santa Rosa to face the SRJC Bear Cubs on Tuesday, February 27th.