Mariners' Baseball rallied from trio of deficits against Solano College on Saturday to clinch a post season berth. College of Marin trailed 6-5 heading to the eighth when they unloaded on the Falcon's bullpen, scoring seven times in the final two frames. Christian Merriwether had five hits and scored four times while Owen Hamilton earned the win out of the bullpen.
Solano jumped out to an early lead with two in the bottom of the first inning. Dominic Burke started on the mound for Marin and yielded a one out double and single. A triple cleared the bases but Burke did manage to strand the runner at third to keep the game at 2-0 Solano.
Marin failed to score in the first two innings but managed to tie the game in the third. Merriwether reached on an error and moved to second on a single by James Harwell. Alex Davis banged a tripled scoring the pair and tying the game up at 2-2.
Burke settled down and did not allow a baserunner until the fourth inning. Solano failed to score but had another opportunity in the bottom of the fifth. The Falcons hit a one out double and moved to third on a ground out. A two out RBI single put Solano back on top 3-2.
Marin untied the game in the seventh as Randy Fernandez led off with a single. Jake Munoz walked and Merriwether singled to load the bases. Harwell walked to tie the game and Adam Hussain followed with an RBI single to give Marin their first lead of the afternoon. MacLeyn Meyn followed with a ball that was dropped by the left fielder that allowed Merriwether to come around to score for a 5-3 Marin lead.
The lead was short-lived as Solano rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning. Michael Benz took over for Burke and got two quick outs before loading the bases with a single, hit by pitch and a walk. A double cleared the bases and gave Solano back the lead 6-5.
The Mariners did not go quietly, in fact they counter punched Solano in the top of the eighth. The Mariners loaded the bases with no on three singles before Harwell tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Alex Davis chopped a grounder that scored Munoz and Hussain singled in Merriwether. Hussain stole second and scored on a single by Meyn to give Marin a 9-6 advantage.
Hamilton pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Marin added three more in the ninth as Merriwether hit an RBI double to score a pair and Davis a triple to plate Merriwether. Nick Roth retired the side in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the victory for Marin.
The win guaranteed the Mariners a spot in the post season. They have a three game series upcoming with Los Medanos College with the Bay Valley title on the line. Marin needs to win two of three to clinch the Conference. The first game of the series is Tuesday April 24th at Solano College against the LMC Mustangs.