For one afternoon, the Yuba College baseball team seemed to have finally exorcised all the demons that have tormented the season.

Starting pitcher Zack Vawter-Scoggins was virtually unhittable for seven innings, a defense that has been terrible at times dazzled, and despite missing a golden opportunity early, the 49ers delivered several key hits to take a 4-0 lead over the College of Marin after four innings.

"I have to give the starter a lot of credit. He did a good job keeping us off-balance. We had a lot of problems with him," Mariners coach Steve Berringer said after his club rallied with six runs in the top of the ninth to pull out an 8-4 Bay Valley Conference victory at Gary Engleken Field on Thursday.

Indeed, Vawter-Scoggins allowed just two runs on six hits over 71⁄3 innings. He struck out three and walked one.

When the Mariners did make solid contact, the 49ers chased down the ball. Javier Solis made a diving catch in right field during the second inning; Travis Mraz made a running grab in left in the fourth; and Nick Gauldin at third base and Wesley Tom at first each made spectacular plays during the sixth when Marin scored twice to cut the lead to 4-2.

Certainly the 49ers (4-8, 9-17) did not have the best of luck in the first innng when they loaded the bases with no outs and came away with just one run.

Mraz led off the inning with a single to center, Ed Ryan followed with a hit through the right side of the infield and Gauldin loaded the bases with a walk. But Tom then hit a hard bouncer to shortstop, which was turned into a double play. Mraz scored, but a promising inning stalled.

"If we could have had the one big inning in the first ... they (Mariners) may have folded. We had the bases juiced and came away with one run," Yuba skipper Tim Gloyd said.

Yuba added three runs in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Tom and Solis made it 2-0, a pair of wild pitches scored Solis, and Adrian Perez, who had walked, scored on a sacrifice fly by Tim Hill.

Even when Marin scored twice in the sixth, a rally started by Benjamin Levin from the ninth spot in the lineup and included an RBI-single by Matt Atkins and a one-out sacrafice fly by Chris Dittman, Yuba looked like it was in control.

Vawter-Scoggin limited the damage in the frame, then set the Mariners down in order in the seventh.

"He was outstanding," Gloyd said about his starter. "That is his second start ... and both have been good."

The 49ers used three arms to get out of the top of the eighth without a run, but the demons returned in the home half.

With two outs, Gauldin hit a chopper to shortstop and reached safely on the errant throw. But as Gauldin turned to head to second on the overthrow, he re-injured his ankle, falling to the ground in obvious pain. Gloyd is concerned one of his top hitters might miss the rest of the season.

Marin then put together a six-run, seven-hit inning that included doubles by Sean Proni, Sean Laughlin, Levin and a disputed triple by Matt Kasch that appeared to drop foul.