Glendora, CA (Baseball) -- Citrus College Sophomore Matthew Hart pitched five and a third sterling innings of relief on Wednesday afternoon. Hart (2-0) struck out five batters and surrendered just two hits and gave up no runs as he helped lead #19 Citrus two a 12-7 win over Oxnard College.
After Citrus starter Dnaiel Clark gave up a run in the top of the first, the Citrus offense seemed as if it was going to have an easy day in the bottom of the first. Oxnard’s pitching struggled with their control and Citrus walked six times in the opening inning and another batter got on after getting hit, as they scored six earned runs in the opening frame.
Up 6-1, Citrus looked like they were going to cruise, but Oxnard made it a game, after Citrus’ defense booted the ball around the infield in the third inning with three errors in the first four batters of the inning. Oxnard’s Blake Adame made them pay for it as he launched a two out grand slam home-run over the left field fence to pull Oxnard to within a run of the Citrus lead.
Oxnard would eventually take over the lead in the fourth inning when back to back RBI’s by Brad Greve and Jack Mahan gave the Condors a 7-6 advantage. After another error by Citrus, Hart entered the game for the Fighting Owls and proceeded to shut down the Condor offense the rest of the way, as he allowed just one runner to get to second base over the final five and a third innings.
Trailing by a run, Citrus needed a pick me up on the offensive end. They got exactly that in the bottom of the fourth when designated hitter Jack Schellin drilled a 0-1 pitch over the left field fence to recapture the lead. The Fighting Owls would pick up two more insurance runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth, thanks to a 2 RBI double off the bat of Charles Ball and an Oxnard error in the eighth.
In the win, Citrus was led by Ball who went 1 for 2 with 3 RBI’s and sophomore Jacob Ludvik who came off the bench and snapped a 1 for 20 slump by going 2 for 2 with two runs scored.
With the win, Citrus improves to 8-3 overall while Oxnard drops to 5-4. The Fighting Owls will take on Oxnard again this weekend, with the Condors hosting this time. First pitch is set for 1:00 PM on Saturday.
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