Owls Grab First Two Wins of Season

Citrus College Baseball picked up their first two wins of the season on back-to-back days as they defeated Victor Valley College 19-4 on Monday and San Bernardino Valley College 8-6 yesterday, Tuesday, January 28th. 

After suffering an extra innings defeat to Victor Valley College last Friday, the Owls drove in 19 runs in Monday's rematch, including a 6-run second inning and a 4-run seventh inning. 

Dustin Yela got the Owls off to a hot start in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI single to score Nathan Hellein. Jordan Quintero drove in Yela to give the Owls a 2-0 lead at the end of the first inning. The Owls' bats stayed hot in the second inning when Joshua Cortinas drove in Derek Leader with an RBI single right before Nathan Hellein crushed a three-run homerun to left field to put Citrus up 6-0. Citrus College added 13 more runs in the final seven innings of play to earn the 19-4 win. 

Derek Leader led the way for the Owls going 4-for-5, hitting two doubles, with four RBIs and two runs scored. Luke Willison also went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and one RBI. Dustin Yela went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and three RBIs, Nathan Hellein went 2-for-3 with a three-run homerun and three runs scored. Chase Bernal went 3-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Citrus' pitching took care of business as starter Eddie Rocha struck out six in three innings. Pitcher Isaac Gonzales got the win by pitching four innings with three strikeouts and only one earned run. Matthew Martinez and Alek Gavaghan each struck out two batters at the top of the eighth and ninth innings, giving the Owls their first win of the season. 

The Owls returned yesterday to host San Bernardino Valley College, picking up an 8-6 win over the Wolverines. San Bernardino Valley struck first with a solo homerun in the top of the seventh, the Owls responded in the bottom of the third inning when Nathan Hellein drove in Michael Reyes to tie the game 1-1. The Wolverines added four runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 5-1 lead.  

The Owls drove in five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to a Derek Leader two-RBI double, a Danyal Jenkins two-RBI single and a Nathan Hellein RBI single to give the Owls a 6-5 lead. San Bernardino Valley tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the sixth inning before the Owls scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh off a Jordan Quintero RBI single and an Isaac Nava bases loaded walk. 

With the score 8-6, the Owls turned to Reece Harney for the save opportunity at the top of the ninth inning. Harney got two Wolverine batters to flyout before striking out the final batter of the game. 

Nathan Hellein, Derek Leader, and Danyal Jenkins all drove in two runs while Jordan Quintero and Isaac Nava each recorded one RBI. Owls' starting pitcher Tsurai (Beau) Karrer went four innings, with two strikeouts, giving up five hits and five runs. Isaiah Santoyo got the win striking out five batters through four innings, only giving up one run. Reece Harney got his first save of the season striking out one batter in the top of the ninth inning. 

Citrus College's next game will be at home as they host East Los Angeles College next Tuesday, February 4th at 2 p.m.