Despite a 6-3 loss against first place College of Marin last Friday, Los Medanos College baseball finished second place in the Bay Valley Conference with a 13-8 record and clinched a one-game playoff game against Sierra College.

Spencer Vincent’s seventh start on the mound began with the instantly explosive offense of the Marin Mariners, who got themselves on the scoreboard first with a three-run first inning. But after finding his rhythm, Vincent’s pitching kept the Marin offense in check and didn’t allow a run in the next three innings.

The Mustangs weren’t able to respond through the first two innings due to the heat thrown by the Marin starting pitcher Jason Wutsch.  But a scoring opportunity arrived in the third inning after second baseman Jonathan Pluth’s one out base hit. Right fielder Deon White took Pluth to second with a single, but was later called out after a fielder’s choice by designated hitter Riley Cleary. However, Wutsch continued his hot start to the game and a strikeout ended the third.

The bottom of the fourth inning got underway when third baseman Antone Self advanced to first with a walk and took second base after a wild pitch. Center fielder Jonathan Allen’s groundout to second base was the first out of the inning, but advanced Self to third. First baseman Gabe Taylor hit a sacrifice fly and allowed Self in to score, nabbing his 11th RBI of the season. That was the last scoring effort in the inning, ending 3-1.

Marin responded at the top of the fifth with an RBI single.

Vincent’s pitching efforts came to an end in the seventh and he left the mound after throwing four strikeouts in six innings.

Llewelyn Slone took his spot, making his ninth relief-pitching appearance in the season.

Two more runs came across the plate at the top of the seventh and Marin stayed in front, 6-1.

The Stangs worked hard to get themselves back in the game, and got another run in the bottom of the seventh after Pluth’s RBI single sent shortstop Jason Ochoa to third. He sprinted to home plate to score after a throwing error by the Marin right fielder Jason Rodriguez gave the stangs some extra momentum. Left fielder Sawyer Olson also scored on a defensive mishap by Marin and cut the deficit in half, 6-3 at the end of the seventh.

Not much happened for both teams in the later innings of the game as little offense and quick plays ended the last conference game of the year for the Mustangs with a final score of 6-3. Despite defeat, the team clinched a playoff spot with a one and done game against the 16th ranked Sierra College May 2.

“There were balls hit that were inches from being fair that may have changed the score and tempo of the game but we could’ve have had better pitches and quality at-bats,” said Head Coach Anthony D’Albora. “We’ve done enough to continue to keep on playing and we’re ready to give everything we got in the postseason.”

For more information about the team go to http://www.losmedanos.edu/baseball/.