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

Things just got a lot more interesting in the Coast Golden Gate Conference.

College of San Mateo baseball entered the weekend atop the conference standings, one game ahead of second-place De Anza-Cupertino and two games ahead of third-place Mission-Santa Clara.

Taking a five-run lead into the eighth inning Saturday at Mission, the Bulldogs looked primed to maintain its outright first-place claim. But the Saints staged a late comeback to walk off with a much needed 7-6 victory.

Mission (10-5 in Coast Golden Gate, 15-12-1 overall) scored four runs in the eighth to draw to within a run. Then in the ninth, with runners at the corners and two outs, sophomore Andrew Mallon drove a two-run double into the gap to win it.

With the win, Mission moves to within one game of the Coast Golden Gate leaders; De Anza shut out Skyline 1-0 Saturday to move into a first-place tie with CSM (11-4, 19-9). The walk-off victory marks the second such win for the Saints this season. The first was a wild 13-12 nonconference win Feb. 19 over Lassen.

“That one was fun too, but this one was really special with the situation,” Mission sophomore Jian Lee said.

Lee — a Burlingame graduate — was 2 for 4 in the game with two RBIs. He produced a key two-run single amid a four-run eighth inning. Then he was on deck when Mallon scorched the game-winning double up the gap. As the on-deck hitter, he was directing traffic as sophomore Matt Hearn streaked to the plate, all the way from first base, with the winning run.

“Matt Hearn, the fastest guy on our team coming from first base probably would not have scored, but they bobbled the relay … and our third-base coach did a good job waving him home,” Lee said.

Despite the bobble, CSM’s relay throw arrived at the plate slightly ahead of Hearn. But the speedy sophomore followed Lee’s animated cue to the outside of the plate and took advantage of the sliding lane.

“He slides around the catcher, touches the plate with his hand and scores the run,” Lee said.

CSM starting pitcher Keone Cabinian took a no-decision to continue his tough-luck season. The sophomore right-hander departed after the sixth inning with a 6-1 lead, surrendering five hits on the day. Despite ranking sixth in the Golden Gate Conference with a 2.67 ERA, Cabinian maintains a 3-3 record.

The Bulldogs scored in each of the first three innings. In the first, CSM took advantage of two Mission errors to push a run across. In the second, the Saints committed two more errors while Miles Mastrobuoni capped a three-run rally with an RBI single. In the third, Tyler Carlson produced a sacrifice fly to drive home Devin Mahoney.

In the fifth, freshman designated hitter Juan Gonzalez hit his first collegiate home run to give CSM a 6-0 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Mission catcher Matt Bergandi doubled and later scored on an RBI single by Hearn.

Mission’s bullpen buckled down to throw four scoreless innings. Each team committed four errors while CSM’s bullpen surrendered six runs (four earned) over 2 2/3 innings.

Mission struck in the eighth inning, benefitting from three walks while CSM transfer Brendan Holler, Lee and Adam Rios each had run-scoring hits as nine Saints batted in the inning.

“I was really just trying to get the next guy up behind me and just keep the rally going,” Lee said.