Heads Up

Glendora, CA — It took an unorthodox way, but the Citrus College Baseball team used a "heads up" play to win their home finale on Thursday afternoon. In the bottom of the ninth, Owls sophomore Aaron Torres attempted to steal third base. The ensuing throw from the West LA catcher bounced off of Torres helmet and into center field, allowing Torres to score the winning run in a 4-3 victory.

 West LA got on the board first, scoring a single run in the top of the fourth. Torres would give the Owls an answer in the bottom half of the inning when he lifted a 1-0 pitch to center field plating sophomore Brendan Campbell to make it 1-1. 

Citrus would take their first lead in the bottom of the fifth. Sophomore Taylor Grace opened the inning with a double down the right field line. After he was sacrificed to third, sophomore Troy Resch drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Moments later, the duo broke for the next base up at the same time, with both ending up safe, and the Owls going up 2-1.

The Owls would add to their lead in the bottom of the sixth when Torres laid down a picture perfect sacrifice squeeze bunt that scored sophomore Shawn Sweeney. West LA answered right away though, scoring once in the top of the seventh, and then adding another in the top of the eighth to tie the game. 

After sophomore Conlan McKenzie navigated past his run in the eighth and a smooth ninth, the Owls came up in the bottom half of the last inning with the chance to win. Torres opened up with a double down the left field line, and after that Grace was intentionally walked. A few pitches later Torres took a chance at stealing third, and the Owls ended up winners. 

With the win, Citrus improves to 19-15-1 overall and 12-8 in WSC South play. The Owls will close out the regular season on Friday when they travel to West Los Angeles College for a 2:30 PM start.