After falling behind early, the Mariners made a valiant attempt at a comeback against the Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs. Though it went for not, it showed the fighting spirit of the 2018 Mariners. Marin fell behind 7-0 after five innings, but scored five runs and had chances for more in the latter half of the game. James Harwell had four hits for the Mariners in the loss.
The Mariners loaded the bases in the top of the first on a pair of walks and a wild pitch with one out, but failed to score. In the bottom half Santa Rosa broke through first with a pair of two out doubles to take a 1-0 lead. They added their second run in the bottom of the second as Hance Smith launched a solo home run.
Both teams failed to score in the third but in the fourth Santa Rosa continued to add to their tally. The Bear Cubs loaded the bases with two outs before Cole Brodnansky lined a three run double to push their lead to 5-0. Santa Rosa added two more with an RBI double from Blake Berry in the fifth and led 7-0 after the first five innings of play.
Marin began their comeback effort in the sixth inning. James Harwell led off with a single and moved to second on a single by Will Langan. Randy Fernandez reached on an error to load the bases with one away. After a strikeout, Alex Davis was hit by a pitch to drive in Marin's first run. MacLean Meyn singled to drive in two more and cut the lead to 7-3.
In the top of the seventh The Mariners had two on with two out before Randy Fernandez singled in the Mariners fourth run. They loaded the bases but Alex Davis struck out to end the threat. James Harwell singled in JT Balano in the top of the eighth to cut the lead to 7-5. The Mariners had two chances to drive in more, but failed to score any additional runs.
Marin brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth but could not tie the game and fell to Santa Rosa 7-5.
Harwell was 4 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored. Will Langan started at third and delivered two hits and two runs while Meyn had a single and two RBI. The Mariners had nine hits and drew nine walks but also struck out 15 times on the day.
The Mariners finished their non-conference schedule with an 8-7 record. They begin Bay Valley Conference play at Los Medanos College on Tuesday, March 6th.