Long road trips can be rewarding, but they can also be demoralizing. Wednesday was the latter for the Mariners. They led 7-3 heading to the eighth inning, but ultimately lost on a walk off 8-7 to the Yuba College 49ers. Nick Roth was excellent for the Mariners through the first seven innings, but the bullpen could not hold the lead as Marin saw their chance at first place in the Bay Valley Conference slip away. The Mariners displayed a balanced offensive attack that included Dionathan Cornet's second career home run.
Leading 7-3, Eric Woodrow took over for Roth to start the eighth inning and loaded the bases with one out. He was replaced by Michael Benz who allowed a two-run single before striking out the last two hitters. After Marin failed to score in the ninth, they went to the bottom half nursing a 7-5 lead.
The 49ers loaded the bases with one out and tied the game on back to back hit by pitches. Emani Jones then ended the game on a walk off sacrifice fly as the home team grabbed the victory 8-7.
It was a gut punch of a loss for Marin who looked to bounce back from a loss to Solano the previous day. They did everything right the first seven innings but could not play a complete nine.
The Mariners scored single runs in the first, third and fourth before added two more in the fifth. Bardue had a sacrifice fly for Marin's first run and grounded into a third inning double play for their second. Jacob Berg doubled home Jonathan Sumner in the fourth to give Marin a 3-0 advantage. Dionathan Cornet belted a two-run bomb in the fifth to put the Mariners in front 5-0.
Yuba scored a single run in the fourth and two more in the sixth to the cut the lead to 5-3 before the Mariners scored two more in the seventh on a Nicholas Caravello double. Marin's 7-3 lead vanished soon afterwards.
Roth threw seven innings allowing six hits and three earned runs while striking out seven. Eric Woodrow allowed two runs in a third of an inning and Benz was tagged with the loss as he allowed three runs while striking out three.
Anthony Pomilia and Landen Moran each had two hits and a run for Marin while Cornet supplied the power with his home run. Emani Jones was the offensive hero for Yuba with two hits and four RBIs including the walk off sacrifice fly.
The loss dropped Marin's record to 13-6 in Conference play, a game behind the leading Los Medanos Mustangs. The Mariners' host Solano on Thursday, with first pitch scheduled for 2:30pm.