College of Marin dropped a road game at Santa Rosa on Tuesday by a final score of 8-5. It was the Mariners third consecutive loss after they were swept in a double header against Folsom Lake last week. Marin took a lead in the top of the third, but shaky pitching up and down the roster yielded eight runs over the span of four innings. College of Marin's offense did fight back, but it was not enough in the end. Randy Fernandez had a career best three hits for the Mariners.
Demian White started for Marin and retired the first six batters he faced including a pair of strikeouts. The Mariners' offense put a runner on in the first and second innings but could not score. The third inning was different as the Mariners got on the board first.
Oscar Urbina walked with one out and stole second. Jacob Berg followed with a single and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. Anthony Pomilia came to the plate and delivered a solid single to left plating Urbina and Berg for a 2-0 lead.
Marin's advantage was short-lived as Santa Rosa rallied in the bottom half of the third. A walk, strikeout and single put two on with one out before a two run double down the right field line by Hayden Klemenok tied the game up at 2-2. White worked out of the remaining trouble but was removed after the third inning.
After Marin was held scoreless in the fourth, Cody McGunagle took the hill in the bottom half. Santa Rosa loaded the bases with two outs courtesy of two walks and a hit by pitch. Klemenok delivered again with a bases clearing single to give Santa Rosa a 5-2 lead.
Santa Rosa added another run in the fifth inning and but Marin answered in the sixth with a Will Langan single plating Randy Fernandez for a 6-3 score. The Bear Cubs scored twice more in the bottom of the sixth and led 8-3 heading to the final third of the game.
Marin pushed across two of the their own in the eighth off a double play and an RBI single but 8-5 was the closest the Mariners would get.
Randy Fernandez had three hits, including a double and scored a run. Jacob Berg had two hits a run and two stolen bases on the day while Anthony Pomilia had two RBIs to boost his team leading total to five.
White pitched three innings and struck out four while allowing two runs. McGunagle was saddled with the loss, allowing three runs in an inning. Ryan Moyer yielded a run in an inning while Eric Woodrow allowed two runs in two thirds. Michael Benz had a nice performance, pitching 2.1 shutout innings.
The loss dropped their record to 2-5 on the season with three games against College of the Sequoias on deck in Visalia starting Thursday, February 7th.