Whittier, CA (Baseball) -- Going into Tuesday’s CCCAA Southern California single-elimination playoff game, the Fighting Owls had lost eight of their last eleven games and were limping into the post-season. Citrus took that struggle and flipped it on its ear, drilling #16 seed Rio Hondo 21-8. In the win, Citrus scored a season high 21 runs on a season high 27 hits.
The Fighting Owls wasted no time whatsoever opening up the game with a six-spot in the top of the first inning. After freshman Angel Marti kicked things off with a double up the left field line, freshman Jacob Ludvik drove him in with a single to right-center field.
Sophomore Julio Raymundo followed that with a shot over the right field fence to give Citrus a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, freshman Joseph Garcia kept the rally going with a double to right-center field, and was driven in shortly thereafter thanks to sophomore Scott Vincent’s RBI double up the left field line.
A pair of back to back singles by sophomore’s Evelio Ahumada and Vincent Prado would load up the bases for Citrus, and bring freshman Adrian Cota to the plate. Cota came into Tuesday’s game batting a blistering .500 with bases loaded and didn’t disappoint driving in Vincent from third, to give Citrus their early 6-0 lead.
Needing a win to advance to the regional round of the playoffs, Citrus turned the ball over to freshman Timothy Pomierski who has been the Fighting Owls ace throughout the season. With a 6-0 lead at his back Pomierski was less than perfect, but didn’t have to be thanks to Citrus’ blistering offense.
The Fighting Owls added to their lead in the third inning scoring four more runs, three coming off a three-run home run over the right field fence from Marti, his first of the season. Trailing 10-0 Rio Hondo finally got on the board in the third chasing Pomierski when Ruben Benevides cleared the bases with a double up the left field line.
The Roadrunners would cut the Citrus lead to six runs after the third, but the Fighting Owls offense kept on coming at Rio Hondo. Citrus added three runs in the fourth, three runs in the fifth, and one run in the sixth taking a commanding 17-6 into the seventh inning.
After Rio Hondo mustered two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, Citrus put the final cu de gras on the Roadrunners, when the Fighting Owls scored four more runs, including a three-run bomb off the bat of Ludvik, in the top of the eighth to reach their 21 run total.
Sophomore Chris Freedman would earn the win for Citrus, pitching four and two-thirds strong innings, and improving to 4-3 on the season. Joseph Garcia stood out with all of Citrus’ gaudy numbers going 5 for 5 from the plate, with three runs scored, as did sophomore Vincent Prado who was 4 for 5 with 4 RBI’s.
With the win, Citrus improves to 25-16 overall, while Rio Hondo season ends with a 24-17 record. The Fighting Owls will advance to this weekend regional round of the CCCAA Southern California playoffs, where they will travel to the #1 seed Palomar College in a best two out of three series. Game one is set for Friday May 8th at 2:00 PM.
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