Glendora, CA (Baseball) -- Whenever the Citrus College baseball team suffers a loss on the road, all they have to do is make like Dorothy and click their heals together, and recite there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.
When the Fighting Owls are at home they are practically unbeatable, a stance they reiterated today in their 18 - 4 spanking of LA Mission on Saturday afternoon. It was their 13th home win of the season, and their eighth win in their last ten home games.
Citrus starter Frank Moreno got into a jam early on. After leading off the inning with a single and walk, Moreno got the next two batters to fly out, but not before Mission’s Joe Almendarez smacked a double down the left field line, scoring one run and giving the Eagles an early 1-0 lead.
Moreno would settle down quickly thereafter, pitching three strong innings through the second, third, and fourth frames. In that span Moreno struck out two batters and gave up no hits, shutting Mission down after their early outburst.
With the Fighting Owls still trailing by a run in the fourth inning, Citrus turned to its two hottest hitters to get things rolling. Freshmen Damien Chavez and Scott Vincent got things going when Chavez double to left-center field with one out. One batter later, Vincent sent a monster home-run to the deepest part of the field to give Citrus a 2-1 lead.
LA Mission would answer in the next inning with two more runs (one earned), but this time it wouldn’t take Citrus long to respond, as they exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth.
With the bases loaded and just one out, Chavez ripped his second double of the day, this time up the left field line, a hit that scored 2 runs. Vincent would follow that up with another blast this time just barely missing the top of the fence, instead bouncing off the center field wall, scoring two more runs and pushing Citrus’ lead to 6-2.
The Owls would keep the hit parade rolling in the sixth inning, as they racked up six hits and eight more runs in the bottom of the inning alone. Evelio Ahumada, Javier Lizarraga, Tony Mancuso, Manny Martinez, and Will Davis all joined in on the fun with each recording at least 1 RBI in the inning.
With Moreno giving way to Aaron Illhareguy in the sixth inning, the relief pitcher cruised. Illhareguy continued to stake his claim as Citrus’ toughest pitcher with three strong innings, with one minor slip-up in the eighth when he gave up a run.
The Owls would continue to pile it on, adding four more runs in the eighth as they settled in for their 18-4 victor over the Eagles. With the win, Citrus improves to 19-23 overall and 10-16 in WSC South Division play. The Fighting Owls have just two games left on their 2008 schedule, beginning with Tuesday’s home contest with West LA College.
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