A pitchers' duel early turned into a blowout late the Mariners scored eight unanswered runs in the fifth through seventh innings to defeat the College of the Sequoias Giants' 8-1 on Friday. Demian White pitched into the eighth inning as Marin snapped their four-game losing streak. Randy Fernandez had the best game of his career with a double and career first home run in the victory.
The game looked like low scoring affair from the outset. The Mariners' first 13 batters were retired and no player reached base until the fifth inning. On the defensive side of the ball, White allowed runners in each of the first four innings, but managed to put zeroes up on the scoreboard.
Randy Fernandez became the first Mariner to reach base, sort of, as he homered with one out in the fifth inning for a 1-0 lead. White had a 1-2-3 shutdown inning in the bottom of the fifth before Mariners' fireworks followed in the top of the sixth inning.
Jacob Berg singled with one out in the top half and went to second with two outs on a single by Anthony Pomilia. Landen Moran loaded the bases with a walk and Davis Barkocy was hit by a pitch to drive in Berg for a 2-0 lead. Fernandez followed with a booming two run double and after a pitching change. an error by the shortstop off the bat of Armusewicz plated two more for Marin.
Marin led 6-0 and White continued to improve as the game progressed. He set down Sequoias in order in the sixth before College of Marin added two more in the seventh. They used four consecutive two out singles by Berg, Kole Morgan, Pomilia and Moran put Marin on top 8-0.
White allowed the first two hitters of the seventh to reach before working out of trouble and preserving the shutout. He retired the first batter of the eighth before yielding a single and was subsequently replaced by Eric Woodrow to finish off the game.
Woodrow worked out of the eighth with a double play before allowing a run on a wild pitch in the ninth, but he settled down to get the last two hitters of the game to give the Mariners an 8-1 road victory.
White earned the victory with 7.1 shutout innings, scattering six hits and two walks. Woodrow got the final five outs of the game and allowed a run on a hit.
Fernandez had two runs and three RBIs on his home run and double while Pomilia was three for five with a run and an RBI.
The Mariners look to take the series from Sequoias in the rubber match on Saturday, February 9th at noon.