College of Marin Baseball opened their final week of non-conference play with a victory over a conference rival. The Mariners blasted the Los Medanos Mustangs 10-1 in the BVC pre-conference tournament opener. Zach Tonnerre and Riley Cronin combined to limit the Mustangs to a single run while the Mariners' offense provided more than enough to secure the home victory. The team scored 10 runs on 16 hits with Dionathan Cornet providing the highlight, a deep home run to left centerfield.
The Mariners scored early and scored often. After Tonnerre set down the Mustangs in order in the first, Marin's offense got to work. Anthony Pomilia led off with a single but was caught stealing to clear the bases with two outs. Cornet made the most of his opportunity and destroyed a ball to deep left center field, landing on the newly constructed warehouse, far beyond the fence. Marin added a second run in the inning with three consecutive singles to plate Joey Loveless for a 2-0 advantage.
Tonnerre worked around a walk in the second and a single in the third to keep Marin ahead 2-0 heading to the bottom half. They blew the game open with four runs in the third as Loveless singled and Trent Free was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Oscar Urbina delivered a run scoring single and Eric Woodrow followed with a two-run double. Pomilia singled in Woodrow with two outs to increase Marin's advantage to 6-0.
Tonnerre worked through a scoreless fourth but ran into trouble in the fifth. He loaded the bases with one out before walking in a run for the Mustangs. His defense helped him out of the jam as he induced a flyball to shallow left. Joey Loveless made the catch and gunned down the tagging runner at the plate to end the inning and keep Marin in the lead 6-1.
Marin answered with two runs in the fifth on a ground out and a single to take a commanding 8-1 advantage.
Riley Cronin came on in relief to start the sixth and worked through a two out single and fielding error to keep the Mustangs from scoring. He allowed a harmless single in the seventh and was perfect in the eighth inning.
Marin scored twice more in the bottom of the eighth tanks to an RBI ground out by Urbina and a single by Joseph Bogdan.
Cronin started the ninth on the hill and breezed through the final three batters of the game to secure the 10-1 victory for the Mariners.
Tonnerre earned the win with five innings on the hill. He yielded just a run as well as four hits and two walks while striking out a pair. Cronin earned the save as he pitched the final four innings. He allowed just two hits and struck out two of his own.
Cornet had two hits including his impressive home run. He scored a run and had two batted in. Oscar Urbina had two hits, scored twice and drove in a pair while Eric Woodrow had a single, a double a run and two RBIs.
The win was the Mariners ninth of the year and pushed their record over .500 at 9-8 overall. Next up for Marin is a non-conference matchup with the Yuba College 49ers on the road on Thursday, March 5th at 2pm.
