Owls Get Great Start With Win at Glendale

Glendale, CA - The Citrus College Baseball team got their 2017 Western State Conference East Division season off to a great start on Thursday afternoon with a win at Glendale College. The Owls' bats showed up right away, and the arms followed suit as the defeated the host Vaqueros 10-3. 

 Citrus landed the first blow of the afternoon when a throw home on a ground ball with the bases loaded sailed wide and allowed freshman Andre Flores to score and make it 1-0. Glendale would rally back in the bottom of the second with a bases loaded RBI walk, but Citrus maintained offensive momentum, while the Vaqueros would come to a halt shortly thereafter. 

With runners on the corners and two outs, freshman Jesse Villalobos would put Citrus back in front with an RBI single. Sophomore Hiroshi Ishiwatari followed that up with a 2-RBI double that quickly made it 4-1. Glendale would use a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third to cut the Owl advantage in half, but that would be the final score for the Vaqueros until the bottom of the seventh and by then Citrus was comfortably in front. 

The Owls would break the game wide open in the top of the sixth, getting an RBI single from freshman Kristian Scott, a 2-RBI double by Flores, another RBI single off the bat of Villalobos, and yet another RBI this time in the form of a single from Ishiwatari. By the end of the inning, Citrus had a comfortable 9-2 lead. 

Much of the reason why the lead felt comfortable was because of the final five innings that sophomore Brennan Piceno hurled for the Owls. Piceno gave up just three total hits and one earned run in that span, fanning four Vaquero hitters as he improved to 4-1 on the year. The only pock on his resume was the three walks he allowed, but he managed to spread those out and give up just the one run. 

That one run would come in the bottom of the seventh and it would be the final run for Glendale. Citrus would add an insurance score in the top of the eighth, but as things went they didn't end up needing it. 

Freshman Donovyn Curiel had a strong day at the plate from the leadoff spot, going 3 for 6. Scott continued to stay hot at the plate, with a 3 for 4 effort that saw him cross home three times. Flores ended up 2 for 3 with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Ishiwatari made the most of his first start of the year by going 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs. 

With the win, Citrus record continues to improve, moving to 9-7-1 on the year and more importantly 1-0 in WSC East play. The Owls will be home again on Saturday when they host Antelope Valley College as conference play continues at 1:00 PM.