Owls Bounce Back Against Monarchs

After a close battle with LA Valley to open the series, Citrus College bounced back with a 16-6 victory on the road to tie the series up.

The Owls improve to 11-11 overall and 4-1 in Western State Conference action, while the Monarchs drop to 13-8, 2-3.

Citrus racked up the hits, finishing with 15 in the win. Both Chad Green and Conner McKinney had four hits and scored three runs, while McKinney had four RBIs and Green drove in three. Robert Valdivia also had a good day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs.

The Owls got things going right away as McKinney knocked an RBI double in the top of the first.

LA Valley responded with a run in the bottom half of the frame, but Citrus struck again in the third. With a runner on and two outs, McKinney blasted his first home run of the game to put the Owls up 3-1.

Once again, the Monarchs answered back with a run in the bottom of the third, but the Owls kept coming.

Diego Gonzales tagged up at third on a Devon Diaz sacrifice fly before a wild pitch tacked on another run in the fourth. Green drove in the third run of the inning to put the Owls in control, 6-2.

The Monarchs scored two more runs to keep things close, but the Owls were just getting warmed up.

Citrus came out swinging in the seventh and plated 10 runs to bust the game open. After a pair of errors, a walk and a hit-by-pitch scored the first four runs of the inning, the Monarchs looked like they might get out of the jam with two outs.

The Owls weren't done yet, however, as Valdivia doubled to score three runs and Green and McKinney drilled back-to-back homers to give the Owls a commanding 16-4 lead.

LA Valley managed to score one more run in both the seventh and eighth innings, but the Owls held on for the 16-6 victory.

Citrus and LA Valley close out the series Friday back at Citrus at 2:30 p.m.