Owls Open Series with Cougars Victorious

Citrus College opened its three-game Western State Conference series with College of the Canyons Tuesday, grabbing a big 11-8 victory.

The Owls improve to 10-27 on the year and 6-13 in WSC action, while the Cougars slip to 21-15 overall, 12-7 in conference.

Citrus struck first and scored two runs in its first chance at the plate as Chad Green (2-for-4) knocked a two-run homer. Canyons responded with three runs in the second, but the Owls took back the lead in the fourth. With bases loaded and two outs, Jin Hattori doubled to send two runners in before a wild pitch scored Devon Diaz to put the visitors in front 5-3.

Citrus tacked on three more runs in the top of the fifth, but the Cougars answered back with four runs in the bottom half of the inning and added another in the sixth to tie the game at 8-8.

The Owls took back their lead in the eighth after both Chad and Connor Green came home and Jason Armendariz (2-for-4) knocked an RBI single to drive Ronnie Wohlert home.  

Kyle Dixon picked up the win on the mound for the Owls, while Kaj James grabbed his third save of the year with four strikeouts in just five batters faced.

Citrus and Canyons continue the series on Thursday on the Owls' turf at 2:30 p.m.