Mariners' baseball made the important plays and got the key performances in their win over the College of San Mateo on Thursday. After dropping the series opener to the Bulldogs on Tuesday, Marin rallied from a deficit in the sixth inning. The Mariners received excellent performances by reliever Michael Benz and hitters Jacob Berg and Eric Woodrow in the 6-5 victory.
Marin got on the board first as Berg and Anthony Pomilia led off with back to back singles. They moved over on a sacrifice bunt before Nicholas Caravello doubled in Berg for a 1-0 lead. They loaded the bases with two outs for Woodrow who lined a two-run single to triple the Mariners advantage to 3-0.
Demian White started for the Mariners and worked through a scoreless first but ran into some trouble in the bottom of the second. San Mateo loaded the bases with nobody out. After a pop up, a sacrifice fly put the home team on the board and a two out single cut Marin's led to 3-2 with two innings in the book.
The Mariners pulled a run back in the fourth as Woodrow led off with a single and moved to second with two outs. Berg lined a single to score Woodrow and restore a two-run lead for Marin 4-2. White held off the Bulldogs in the third and fourth innings but succumbed to them in the fifth.
The Bulldogs put runners on the corners with one down for Anthony Flores who lined an RBI single. Benz relieved White and got a second out on an infield grounder. The next batter struck out, but reached on a passed ball prolonging in the inning and tying the game up at 4-4. The following hitter worked a walk to drive in a run and yielded the lead to San Mateo 5-4.
College of Marin did not wait long to respond, answering in the top of the sixth. Conor Bardue was hit by a pitch leading off and stole second with one down. Oscar Urbina walked and Matt Lozovoy singled to load the bases. Berg worked a bases loaded walk to tie the game up and Pomillia lofted a sacrifice fly to untie the game and put Marin ahead 5-4.
After his first inning on the mound, Benz locked in against the Bulldogs. He retired the side in order in the sixth and allowed individual baserunners in the seventh and eighth innings. The opposition had no such luck in the ninth as he put down the Bulldogs in order with a pair of strikeouts.
The sophomore earned the win in relief as he threw 4.2 shutout innings and allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out eight opposing hitters.
Berg had two hits, two RBI, a run and a stolen base for Marin and Eric Woodrow chipped in two hits, two RBIs and a run scored of his own.
The victory pushed Marin's record to 5-8 in the 2019 season. The rubber game of the series will be held on Saturday, February 23rd at 1pm at Santa Rosa Junior College.