The Marlboro Marlins 12U baseball team skipped the Greater Hudson Valley Baseball League playoffs for something much more special this summer.

The Marlins traveled to the Cooperstown Dreams Park, and went 3-3, finishing 47th out of 104 teams.

The Marlins won the first three of their five regularly scheduled games before bracket play opened on Sunday.

They opened the tournament with a 16-4 win over the Lone Star Brewers, a team based in Texas, on Aug. 1 behind an 11-run first inning.

Harland Lathrop hit two home runs and drove in five runs. He scored three. Ray Melenez scored two runs and drove in one, while Brayden Charest had a hit, a run scored and an RBI. Ryan Knapp doubled, drove in two runs and scored one. Ben Powers had a hit, two runs scored and an RBI.

Justin Cavanagh threw all five innings, allowing four runs on six hits. He struck out seven batters.

The Marlins followed that win on Aug. 2 with a 10-6 win over the Honeybadgers, breaking a 6-6 tie with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Two runs scored to give the Marlins the lead for good when Alex Fernandez reached on an error. Kevin Beck singled home Melendez and Fernandez stole home.

Lathrop had two hits, including a double, and scored three runs, and Fernandez drove in two runs and had one hit. Knapp had two hits, two RBIs and a run scored.

The Marlins then played three games on Aug. 3, the first of which was a 9-6 win over the Roger Allen Rockets.

The Marlins scored five runs in the third inning and four more in the fifth. They never trailed in the game.
Fernandez and Knapp each had a hit and two RBIs. Charest had two hits, and a run scored.

Anthony Sessa and Fernandez split the pitching. Sessa allowed a run on two hits in his three innings and struck out four. Fernandez gave up five runs – two earned – on three hits and struck out seven.

Then their fortunes started to turn.

They lost their second game of the day, 12-2 to the Wayzata Trojans. Lathrop homered and drove in both Marlins’ runs.

They finished the day with a 12-9 loss to the West Hartford Wolves.

The Marlins took a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the second inning but gave up eight runs over the second and third innings and never led again.

Lathrop doubled, homered, scored three runs and drove in three. Fernandez had a hit, two runs scored and an RBI. Knapp had two hits, an RBI and a run scored. Melendez had two hits, and a run scored.

Their 3-2 record during regularly scheduled play and their average of 8 runs allowed per game entered the Marlins into the tournament as the 47th seed, putting them up against No. 54 Orange County Hawks Black, based in California.

The Marlins suffered an 18-4 defeat to be eliminated from the single-elimination bracket.
The game ended after four innings. The Hawks opened the game with nine runs in the first and six more in the second to take immediate control.

Lathrop homered and drove in a run and Cavanagh had a hit and an RBI. Charest also drove in a run with a hit.