Owls Squeeze Out Win in Victorville

Victorville, CA - The Citrus College Baseball team squeezed out a 6-5 win in Victorville on Thursday afternoon. A squeeze by sophomore Garrett Barnes in the top of the eighth, allowed sophomore Kyosuke Ushimaru to score from third to give the Owls a 6-5 lead and eventually the win.

Citrus fell into an early hole on the afternoon. The Rams blasted the Owls for five runs in the bottom of the second, scoring on an RBI infield single and then getting a grand slam to make it 5-0. It would take a while for the Owls to respond, but they did eventually.

The Owls would score three runs in the top of the fourth, getting an RBI single to center field by Ushimaru and an RBI single back up the middle of the field by sophomore Jordan Achay that made it 2-5. Ushimaru would score a few plays later on a passed ball, turning the Owls deficit to just a pair of scores.

In the top of the fifth, freshman Jesse Villalobos would tie the game up at 5-5 when he hit a 2-RBI single that plated freshman Kristian Scott and sophomore Marcos Campos. Three innings later, the Owls got the final run of the game on the safety squeeze by Barnes.

At the plate, Ushimaru and Achay each had a pair of hits for the Owls. Sophomore Brennan Piceno (5-2) picked up the victory, pitching six shutout innings to close out the game, giving up just four hits, and two walks, while striking out five Ram batters.

With the win, Citrus improves to 16-12-2 overall and 8-4-1 in WSC East play. The Owls will close out their regular season series with Victor Valley College tomorrow afternoon at home at 2:30 PM.