Owls Settle for Tie With Oxnard
| TOP 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Oxnard | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
|
Citrus | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Baseball team held their own on Thursday afternoon when they played host to pre-season SoCal #3 Oxnard College. The Owls led early but would have to settle for a tie with the visiting Condors as the game was called in the Top of the 9th inning due to darkness with the game sitting at 5-5.
Freshman Jonathan Ayala would get the scoring going for the Owls with a solo shot over the left field fence in the bottom of the third inning. That was followed up two at bats later by an RBI double down the left field line by freshman Joshua Chua to give Citrus a 2-0 lead.
The Owls would add to their lead in the bottom of the fifth, when freshman Raymond Fierro III scored from third, after a failed pick-off attempt by the Condors on sophomore Richard Chavez who was standing over at first base.
With that early 3-0 lead at his back, sophomore starting pitcher Sean Patton did enough to keep the Owls in things thanks to his five innings of work on the hill. Patton game up just two hits, but did walk six batters, while striking out three batters, and not giving up a single run.
Oxnard began their comeback in the top of the sixth when they scored on a double-play ball to make it 3-1. Ayala would come back in the bottom half of the inning, and put Citrus back up by three when he swatted his second long ball of the day, again to left field.
The Condors wouldn't be denied though as they scored two more in the top of the seventh to make it 3-4. The Owls again tried to gain some separation in the bottom half of the inning, when sophomore Taylor Grace singled to right field scoring Chavez, but Oxnard scored twice in the top of the eighth, to make it 5-5, where the score would stay.
In the tie, Ayala finished 2 for 4 with his two runs and two RBI's. Chavez went 3 for 4, while Fierro was 1 for 3 with a pair of scores.
With the tie, Citrus moves to 5-3-1 on the season. The Owls begin a three game road stretch this Saturday when they travel to pre-season SoCal #10 East Los Angeles College (1-6) on Saturday at 1:00 PM.