Glendora, CA (Baseball) -- Citrus freshman Damien Chavez went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s on Tuesday afternoon helping lead the Fighting Owls to a 11-6 victory over West Los Angeles College. Citrus recorded double digits hits (14) for the 5th game in a row, as they picked up a win in their final home game of the season.
Despite a comfortable lead in the end, Citrus struggled early on. Starter Aaron Chavez, who has been Citrus’ most reliable starter over the past few months, got hit earlier and often. After striking out the first batter he faced, Chavez gave up a single and two walks to load the bases up with the Oilers’ Brett Halstead coming to the plate. Halstead made Chavez pay dearly as he sent a grand slam over the right-center field fence. Two batters later Chavez gave up another run, as West LA jumped out to an early 5-0 lead.
Facing an early hole, the Citrus offense responded. After Tony Mancuso and Julio Raymundo led off the bottom of the first inning with walks, Damien Chavez sent one of his three hits to right-center field, loading up the bases for freshman Scott Vincent. Vincent would drive in the first run, with sophomore Manny Martinez scoring the second on a sacrifice fly, as Citrus cut the early lead to three at 5-2.
After giving up five runs in the first Aaron Chavez continued to struggle in the second. Chavez gave up his sixth run of the game when Halstead recorded his fifth RBI of the game on a single to left-field. With that Chavez’s day was over, as John Pollock came in to relieve him, and Pollock cruised. Pollock wouldn’t give up another run throughout the rest of the game as he pitched 7.2 sterling innings, yielding just one hit and striking out four batters along the way.
Still trailing by four runs after the second, the Citrus bats continued to peck away at the West LA lead. In the bottom of the second, the Fighting Owls grabbed three more runs (one earned) thanks in large part to a RBI single up the left field line by Mancuso and a sacrifice fly to center field by Damien Chavez.
Though silenced in the third, Citrus was finally able to chase West LA starter Ricky Gutierrez in the fifth after they tagged him for four more runs in the fourth to grab the lead. In that inning alone Chavez, recorded his second RBI, and Vincent racked up two more in helping Citrus take over the Oilers’ lead.
Before all was said and done, the Fighting Owls would record two more runs in the fifth, when Chavez picked up his third RBI and third and final hit, as Citrus picked up their 20th win of the season. Pollock would get the win on the hill, as he ran his record to 3-2 overall.
With the win Citrus WSC South record moves to 11-16 and 20-23 overall. The Fighting Owls have just one final game left on their 2008 slate as they travel to Culver City to take on the Oilers one more time this Thursday May 1st. First pitch is set for 2:30 PM.
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