College of Marin enjoyed an excellent beginning to their 2018 playoffs with an 18-4 walloping of the College of San Mateo Bulldogs. Marin fell behind early but rallied in a big way, including a 10 spot in the bottom of the sixth inning. Chris Allen earned the victory, his 13th of the season, while Adam Hussain powered the offense with two monster home runs.
Both teams went down in order in the first before San Mateo got on the board in the top of the second. A leadoff single followed by two ground outs put a man on third for Nick Knecht, who singled to drive in the first run of the game. Marin could not answer in the second and Allen settled down to prevent any further scoring from San Mateo in the top of the third.
Dominic Burke led off the third for Marin with a single, and moved to third on a Davis Barkocy base knock. Randy Fernandez followed with a double to score Burke and tie the game up at 1-1. Jake Munoz followed with a walk and Christian Merriwether lined a ball to left that scored Barkocy for a 2-1 Mariners lead. They were not done as Harwell's fly ball moved Fernandez to third before an attempted pickoff of Munoz at first was mishandled and allowed Fernandez to score the Mariners' third run of the inning.
San Mateo answered back with a run of their own in the fourth as a pair of two out doubles by Angelo Bortolin and Kevin Jordan brought the visitors back within one at 3-2. The Mariners responded in the bottom of the fourth as Adam Hussain launched a ball to deep left center to restore the Mariners' two run cushion at 4-2.
Both teams were retired in order in the fifth and Allen mowed down the Bulldogs in the top half of the sixth. The Mariners however, made quiet of bit of noise in the bottom of the inning.
Harwell doubled to lead off and moved to third on a fly out by Alex Davis. Hussain was hit by a pitch and MacLean Meyn walked to load the bases. Burke doubled to score a pair before Barkocy was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. San Mateo had a chance to escape with the score 6-2 after Fernandez struck out, but six straight run scoring at bats put the dagger in the Bulldogs. Munoz drew a bases loaded walk, and Merriwether singled in a pair to make it 9-2. Harwell and Davis followed with RBI singles before a wild pitch scored Harwell to make it 12-2. Hussain belted his second homer of the game to score Davis and make the game well out of reach at 14-2 Marin.
San Mateo responded with two in the top of the seventh on an RBI double but Marin responded doubly as Munoz had a two run single in the bottom of the seventh and Davis a two run triple of his own to put a bow on a tidy 18-4 score line.
Allen pitched through the seventh and allowed four runs and eight hits while striking out eight and earning his 13th victory of the year. Ryan Moyer and Will Zurcher pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings respectively to seal the victory for Marin.
Hussain was the offensive hero with two homeruns, three RBI and three runs scored. Merriwether had two hits, three RBI and two runs scored while Dominic Burke added two hits, two RBI and three runs scored on the afternoon.
The Mariners have little time for rest as they go for the sweep over San Mateo at 11am on Saturday, May 5th.
