Glendora, CA (Baseball) -- Sophomore Luis Zeledon scored the winning run in Tuesday afternoon’s 6-5 win over #4 LA Pierce College. Zeledon broke from third on a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth inning as #15 Citrus picked up their first WSC South win of the season.
The game started out as a pitchers dual, as Pierce starter Carlos Gonazlez sat the Fighting Owl line-up down in order the first time around. Citrus starter James Janclaes was equally as good as he struck out three batters and surrendered just two hits in the first five innings of the game.
After the Citrus offense all went down in a row their first time up, they finally got to Gonzalez in the fourth inning. Zeledon would lead things off by getting the first hit off Gonzalez as he ripped an 0-1 pitch to left-center field.
Two batters later, Zeledon would score from third on a sacrifice fly to center field off the bat of Kyle Nutter. Leading 1-0, Citrus picked up two more insurance runs in the fourth thanks to back to back RBI singles by freshmen Gregory Salcido and Charles Ball.
The Fighting Owls kept the hit parade going in the fifth when freshman Nicholas Bergara and Tyler Bailey led off the inning with a single and double respectively. The pair was driven in by the next two batters as Angel Marti got an RBI ground out, and Zeledon laid down a beautiful RBI sacrifice bunt up the first base line, giving Citrus a 5-0 advantage.
Pierce would cut into the lead in the top of the sixth getting an RBI single from Iggy Wagner, and the Brahma’s finally chased Janclaes in the seventh when they led off the inning with back to back doubles. Janclaes gave way to Justin Grijalva who after striking out the first batter he faced ran into trouble immediately when he hit the next batter and then gave up a 2 RBI double two batters later. One more run would score and suddenly Citrus’ 5-1 lead was gone.
After Pierce’s Gonzalez gave up the five runs in the fourth and fifth innings he settled back in and retired the side in the sixth and seventh. Citrus finally started hitting him again in the eighth as Zeledon and Garcia started the inning with singles to right and center fields, running Gonzales as Pierce turned to freshman Josh Derry.
Derry would walk his first batter, Nutter, to load up the bases with one out. Derry would go to work against Salcido eventually striking him out swinging on an 0-2 pitch below the knees, but the ball got away from catcher Ryan Gasporra and Zeledon alertly scored from third on the passed ball.
After he gave up a walk-off hit against Pierce yesterday, Citrus went back to freshman closer Justin Arcenaux. Arecenaux showed no signs of yesterday’s troubles as he pitched a perfect ninth, needing just eight pitches to get the side out as he picked up his second save of the season.
In the win, Citrus was led by Zeledon who went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. With the win, Citrus improves to 10-4 overall and 1-1 in WSC South Play, while Pierce falls to 11-3 overall and 1-1 in conference games. Citrus will hit the road on Thursday as they take on LA Valley College. First pitch is set for 2:00 PM.
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