After a series of rain delays, the Contra Costa College baseball team (4-13 overall and 0-2 in Bay Valley Conference) finally got to host its first conference game of the season.

In a 12-3 defeat to College of Marin (13-7 overall and 2-0 in BVC), the Mariners slayed the Comets with a combination of sublime pitching and efficient fielding Monday afternoon at the Baseball Field.

During the delay, Comet hitters spent extra time hitting in an attempt to maintain team momentum.

The Comet pitching staff failed to get into a good rhythm in the early innings for consecutive games.

“They made plays when they had to make plays and they executed when they needed to execute,” CCC baseball coach Brian Guinn said. “We had the opportunities to win but we didn’t take advantage of them,”

Going up against the Mariner starting pitching staff that has a combined earned run average (ERA) of 2.42 and a total run differential of plus 45, proved to be too much for the Comets.

“I think we, as a team, have had consistent pitching all season, (sophomore pitcher) Dominic Burke labored through the first couple of innings and really didn’t have his curve ball until the fourth inning,” Mariners baseball coach Steve Berringer said. “He got a couple of ground balls, one that we turned into a double play in the first inning when he was really struggling with his pitch command.”

The lopsided score and hit differential between both teams tell a false narrative to a certain extent.

Early in the game, Burke, while struggling with his command, was bailed out a few times by his infielders with incredible defensive plays.

“The ball can bounce either way, for or against you,” Guinn said. “We have to give them their credit, they scored runs on sacrifice flies and we didn’t get those opportunities as much.”

Berringer said, “What Dom (Burke) tries to establish is strike one. So if strike one is the best pitch they’re going to get an opportunity to hit. That’s probably what they did but I can’t speak for them.”

The Comet batters were quiet for most the ball game due to inconsistencies when deciding to swing at pitches.

CCC sophomore pitcher Mark Dozier said that the team has to stop dwelling on the missed scoring opportunities and just move on to capitalize on the next opportunity.

“At times we were too patient and then we weren’t patient enough at times with the bat. We just must find a way to balance that,” Dozier said.

The team failed to carry over the momentum after a good stretch of Comet pitching during the last four games of non-conference play.

Over those games, the team only allowed seven runs.

In the opening two-game series of conference play against Marin, CCC was outscored by a combined total of 21 runs.

The Comets are set to continue BVC play against Solano Community College (after press time on Tuesday and today at 2:30 p.m. in Fairfield. Then they will wrap up the three-game-series on Thursday at the Baseball Field at 1 p.m.