The Mariners got a preview of their competition for the Bay Valley Conference crown over the past week. Given the results, the Mariners appear to be alone at the top. After taking it to Los Medanos and Solano Colleges in the previous few days, the Mariners blasted chief rival Laney College 11-4 on Saturday. The Mariners tallied 11 hits and 12 walks on the day which led to 11 runs against the Eagles. Marin ran rampant with four stolen bases while Dominic Burke earned the win with six quality innings on the mound.
The Mariners drew first blood just four batters into the game. Randy Fernandez led off with a walk and moved to third on an error off the bat of Alex Davis with one down. With runners on second and third, MacLean Meyn lined a single to score two and give the Mariners a 2-0 lead. Meyn stole second and moved to third on an error. Adam Hussain walked and reached second on a wild pitch. Harwell singled in Meyn and with two outs Will Langan singled in Hussain to give Marin four first inning runs.
Burke breezed through the first two innings as he retired the side in order. Laney drew a one out walk in the third but nothing came of it for the Eagles. Laney went 1-2-3 in the fourth but did get one run back in the bottom of the fifth as Tyler George hit a solo shot to cut the Mariners lead to 4-1.
The Mariners answered back in the top of the sixth as Harwell singled and scored on a double by Davis Barkocy. Langan followed with a single before Christian Merriwether singled in Barkocy for a 6-1 lead for Marin. Laney scored a solo run in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly as the Mariners led 6-2 after six complete.
Marin continued to add on in the seventh as Munoz and Davis walked and stole second and third with one away. Hussain knocked an RBI single and Harwell followed with a sacrifice fly to extend the advantage to 8-2.
Laney scored once in the bottom of the eighth but Marin scored thrice more in the ninth. They loaded the bases with one away when Nick Roth drew a bases loaded walk and Burke followed with a two run double to push the lead to 11-3. Laney scored once more in the bottom of the ninth but it was not enough to make a dent in the Mariners sizable victory margin.
Harwell had his second excellent game in a row as he reached base four times, had three hits, two RBI and two runs on the day. Will Langan had a nice two for two effort with a walk while MacLean Meyn had a hit, two RBI and two runs scored.
Dominic Burke earned the win as he allowed two runs and two hits in six innings on the hill. Nick Roth, Owen Hamilton and Michael Benz finished off the Eagles combining to pitch the final three innings of the game.
Marin hosts Contra Costa College on Tuesday, March 13th at Sonoma State University in the opener of the 2018 Bay Valley Conference season.