The Hawks beat the College of Marin Mariners 12-8 on April 30 in the California Community College Athletic Association Baseball Championship play-in game.

During the first inning of the game, the Hawks fell behind 2-0.

“We have a sophomore slated team but injuries have hurt us this year and we’re just now starting to get somewhat healthy,” said Head Coach Don Mico. “Hopefully as postseason goes we get healthier and play better.”

The Hawks’ fought back during the bottom of the first when freshman Alex Crouch grounded out to second-base resulting in a run scored by sophomore Burle Dixon.

“Today’s game was kind of back and forth for like the first five innings and then we broke away and made it,” said Dixon. “The next team we’re playing won their conference so it will be a battle.”

The Hawks scored two more RBI’s in the second inning. One was the result of an error by the Mariners right fielder that advanced Essex Brown to second base on a single that scored Dean Lucas.

The Hawks scored again when sophomore J.D. Mico hit a single with runners in scoring position that resulted in another RBI that scored sophomore pitcher Joey Pankratz with the go ahead run to end the inning.

“I’ve been hurt most of the year with a pulled hamstring so this was my first game back in like a month,” said Mico.

The Mariners regained the lead during the top of the third inning 4-3 as a result of two RBI singles.

The Hawks tied the game during the bottom of the third with an RBI single from sophomore Jeremy Kolb that scored Mariners Randy Fernandez.

“Freshman outfielder Brett Graber had a big triple and sophomore pitcher Troy Davis had a good outing and got outs quick,” said Pankratz. “The turning point was the rally chew where we had two outs, worked walks and couple big hits.

The game remained tied going into the 6th inning when the Hawks scored seven runs to pull away from the Mariners.

The runs were the result of a wild pitch with the bases loaded that scored Kolb, a walk that scored Mico, a RBI triple by Brett Graber that scored Lucas, Griffin Shelby and Crouch, and a RBI single by Pankratz that scored Graber. The Hawks ended the inning with a 11-4 lead.

“There was a team effort today from everyone and Brett Graber had that big triple which really helped us pull through,” said J.D. Mico.

The Hawks scored one more run in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run by Dixon.

“I have high expectations for myself and the team to go far because we’re getting hot at the right time,” said Graber. “We played an awesome eight innings and we need to close out games better because our goal is the state championship.”

The Mariners tried to make a comeback by scoring four runs in the ninth inning which wasn’t enough and the Hawks won the game 12-8