Glendora, CA (Baseball) -- After picking up steam over the last few weeks with big wins over top SoCal teams like Riverside, Bakersfield, and Mt. SAC, the Fighting Owls hit a wall on Tuesday in the form of the Canyons College baseball team.
Canyons which is ranked #8 in the latest Southern California RPI ratings, scored 9 runs in the sixth and seventh innings alone, taking advantage of six Citrus errors to score a decisive 11-1 win over Citrus on Tuesday afternoon, keeping a stranglehold of first place in the WSC South.
Citrus had plenty of opportunities early, but failed to make good on any of them, grabbing just five hits through the first six innings, as the Cougars' Kody Kurowski pitched six sterling innings, striking out five batters and giving up no runs.
Despite Kurowski's seeming dominance, Citrus had runners in scoring position in three of the first six innings of the game, but came up short each and every time. With Citrus' offense lagging through most of the game, the Citrus' pitching proved to be resilient as Citrus starter Chris Freedman pitched five strong innings, giving up just one earned run through that span.
Although Freedman was strong through five innings, the Cougar bats finally broke through in the sixth inning, when they tagged him for four more runs (three earned), as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Canyons added five more in the next inning, putting the Owls in a hole they couldn't climb out of.
With the loss, the Citrus' record falls to 16-18 overall and 7-11 in WSC South play. The Fighting Owls will resume conference play on Thursday as they travel to LA Pierce College for a 2:30 PM match-up. Thursday's game versus the Brahma's will be the third meeting of the year between the two squads. The teams split the two games, with each school taking their respective home contests.
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