The Mariners finished off their sweep of Yuba College on Saturday 7-4 and earned their eighth consecutive win in the process. Owen Hamilton earned the victory in 4.1 innings of long relief as Christian Merriwether scored three times from the leadoff position.
Merriwether was the sparkplug as he walked to leadoff the game and moved to third on a throwing error by the 49ers pitcher. Jake Munoz grounded out to score Merriwether and give the Mariners a very early 1-0 lead. Alex Davis followed with a single and advanced to third on a double by MacLean Meyn. With two down James Harwell lined a single that scored two and gave Marin a 3-0 first inning lead.
Will Zurcher started on the hill for the Mariners and wobbled a bit a start. He hit the leadoff batter and allowed a single to the second place hitter. After a ground out moved runners to second and third, a second hit batter loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly brought one home but Zurcher settled down and retired the next hitter to keep the lead at 3-1.
Merriwether was at it again in the second inning as he singled with two down. He moved to second on an error and took third on balk. Finally he came around on a wild pitch to give Marin a 4-1 lead.
Yuba failed to score in the second inning but came to life in the third. They loaded the bases with one out and brought one home on a fielder's choice. With two out an RBI single cut the Mariners lead to 4-3 before a base running mistake ended the threat for Yuba.
Hamilton took over on the hill and kept Yuba off the board, while the Mariners struck again in the fifth inning. It started with Merriwether yet again as he led off with a single. Munoz was hit by a pitch and Davis singled to load the bases with no outs. Meyn followed with a sacrifice fly and Adam Hussain followed with a walk to reload the bases. With two away Davis Barkocy drew a bases loaded walk to plate Merriwether and give Marin a 6-3 lead. Marin added their seventh run in the eighth as Merriwether doubled in Barkocy with two away.
Hamilton pitched through the seventh and was relieved by Jack Hill who cruised through the eighth. He ran into some trouble in the ninth as Yuba scored a run, but Nick Roth came in to notch the save in the Mariners 7-4 victory.
Merriwether had three hits, three runs and an RBI, while Alex Davis had two hits and a run of his own.
Next up for Marin is a home game at Sonoma State against Contra Costa College on Monday, March 26th.