Owls End Up On Wrong Side of Duel

Glendora, CA -- After a rough first two innings on Citrus' side of things, Saturday's Western State Conference South Division match-up with SoCal #6 Glendale turned into a good old fashion pitcher's duel. Unfortunately, as has been the case as of late, the Owls came up on the wrong side of things losing 3-2.

The Owls sent sophomore Oscar Gomez to the hill for the start on Saturday. Gomez got off to a rough start throwing nearly 40 pitches in the top half of the first inning. Glendale scored in that first frame walking in a bases loaded run to give the Vaqueros a 1-0 lead.

Gomez struggled again in the second give up back to back singles and then a double to stake Glendale to a 2-0 lead, but after that, Gomez was nails. Over the next five innings, Gomez gave up just one walk and one hit while striking out two.

Much to Citrus' dismay, his counterpart on the mound was doing the same thing to the Owls' bats without the first two inning blips. The Owls had just three base runners in the first six innings, and only two were because of hits. Citrus first made a peep on the offensive end in the top of the seventh when they put runners on first and second. Alas nothing came of it, and Citrus was stifled until the bottom of the ninth.

With their pitching taking care of business Glendale would add an insurance run in the top of the eight. That run was a direct result of a pair of passed balls by Citrus, and would prove to be very important as the Owls finally got their offense rolling in the ninth.

Sophomore William Walters would lead the inning off with a slow roller to second that got him on first. Freshman Jonathon Reynoso followed that up with another infield single, this one to the deepest part of the right side of the field. Walters and pinch runner Matthew Reynoso would move up a base thanks to a wild pitch, only to see sophomore Blake James drive in Walters with an RBI single to center.

Trailing by two, freshman Jayson De La Pena sacrificed Reynoso and James to second and third while sophomore Mike Rowland would make it a one run game with a sacrifice fly to left that scored Reynoso. That would be it though, as the game ended on a ground ball third base.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 9-11 on the year and 3-8 in WSC South play. Citrus will be back out on the road on Tuesday when they take on Glendale at their place. First pitch is set for 2:30 PM.