The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

Mission’s Brendan Holler, right, just beats out a seventh-inning infield single to draw even with CSM. The Saints went on to win it 7-5. Photo by Terry Bernal / Daily Journal

Mission’s Brendan Holler, right, just beats out a seventh-inning infield single to draw even with CSM. The Saints went on to win it 7-5. Photo by Terry Bernal / Daily Journal

College of San Mateo led at three different junctures Saturday, but Mission rallied in its final at-bat for a 7-5 win in a battle for first place in the Coast Golden Gate Conference Saturday at Bulldog Field.

Amid a 5-5 tie in the ninth, the Saints loaded the bases for Adam Rios. And the freshman delivered. Rios scorched a clutch two-out single through the middle to drive home a pair, capping a 14-hit day for the Mission offense.

With the win, Mission (6-1 in Coast Golden Gate, 11-8-1 overall) moves one game ahead of CSM in the Coast Golden Gate standings. The Bulldogs (5-2, 13-7) move into a second-place tie with De Anza.

CSM left-hander Devin Mahoney took the loss. The sophomore has been a workhorse out of the Bulldogs’ pen this season, pacing the team with 22 2/3 innings of relief. He soldiered through 2 2/3 innings Saturday only to take his first loss of the year. His record falls to 3-1.

The southpaw entered the game in the seventh with one on and no outs in relief of starting pitcher Sam Hellinger. The Saints never got a ball out of the infield in the inning, but went on to load the bases with one out. Mahoney responded by inducing a pair of groundballs. The first trickled slowly to the first-base side of the mound that Mahoney gathered with a nice running backhand and fired home to peg Colton Fletcher for the second out of the inning.

Brendan Holler followed with a slow roller to the right side that Mahoney chased down, but Holler just beat the throw on a bang-bang play at first to allow Matt Hearn to score the tying run.

Mission freshman Austin Vierra paced all hitters with a 3-for-4 day. Hearn, Holler, Chase Eller and Andrew Mallon had two hits apiece for the Saints. Miles Mastrobuoni and Draco Roberts each had two hits for the Bulldogs. Roberts currently ranks fourth in the state with a .468 batting average.