Glendora, CA (Baseball) -- Freshman Jonathan Parker made his debut as a starter for Citrus College on Tuesday afternoon. Parker made the most of it, going two for four with three RBI’s and leading Citrus to a 6-1 victory over visiting West Los Angeles College.
The Fighting Owls kicked things off by answering a West LA run in the top of the second inning, with a solo home-run over the center field fence by Scott Vincent in the bottom of the same inning.
Citrus got another run in the very next inning when Evelio Ahumada’s single to right-center field scored Adrian Cota from second base, giving the Fighting Owls a 2-1 lead.
That 2-1 lead would prove to be in good hands, as Citrus starter Chris Freedman (2-0) breezed through six innings of work. In that time, Freedman surrendered just four hits, and allowed base runners past second base just once, when he gave up his only run of the game in the second inning.
With the Citrus pitching taking care of things in the top of each inning, the Fighting Owl offense busted their lead wide open in the bottom of the seventh inning. After freshman Jacob Ludvik led off the inning with a walk, Ahumada laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Ludvik over to second.
With a runner in scoring position, West LA elected to intentionally walk Julio Raymundo to get to Parker. Parker made them pay dearly, by sending a deep home-run over the center field wall that pushed Citrus’ lead to 5-1.
After Freedman made way for Jesus Sanchez in the top of the seventh, things continued to go their way. Sanchez pitched three hitless innings, struck out three batters, and picked up his second save of the season along the way.
With the win, Citrus (ranked #13 in Southern California) improves to 14-6 overall and 8-4 in WSC South Division play, while West LA falls to 5-13 overall and 5-7 in conference play. Citrus will continue its current three game home stand on Thursday as it begins its first of two games with Bakersfield. First pitch is set for 2:30 PM.
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