Willison's Three Home Runs Leads Owls Past LA Valley

Willison's Three-Homer Day Powers Citrus to 15–8 Victory Over LA Valley 

After a 6–4 road loss in the series opener, Citrus College Baseball bounced back in a big way Thursday afternoon, defeating Los Angeles Valley College 15–8 at home. 

With the win, the Owls improve to 11–21 overall and 6–8 in Western State Conference play. LA Valley drops to 13–19 on the season, also sitting at 6–8 in conference. 

The Monarchs jumped ahead early, plating two runs in the top of the second inning. But Citrus answered quickly, as Luke Willison crushed a solo home run in the bottom half to cut the deficit to 2–1. 

In the fourth, the Owls took the lead. Willison doubled and came home on a Jordan Quintero RBI double. Quintero then scored on a single from Roman Huizar, giving Citrus a 3–2 advantage. 

Citrus broke the game open in the fifth, scoring four runs. Dustin Yela doubled in Danyal Jenkins, followed by a sacrifice fly from Nathan Hellein to score Yela. Willison capped the inning with his second homer of the day—a two-run shot that brought in Kirk Felikian II—making it 7–2. 

The offense kept rolling in the sixth. Hellein doubled in Yela, Willison added a sac fly to score Felikian, and Hellein came around to score on a Monarchs error, extending the lead to 10–2. 

After LA Valley scratched across a run in the seventh, Citrus piled on four more in the bottom half. Willison launched his third home run of the game, tying the program's single-game record and giving the Owls a commanding 14–3 lead. 

The Monarchs added five runs across the final two innings, but it was not enough. Jonathan Maldonado came out of the bullpen to secure the final two outs and close out the 15–8 win. 

Standout Performances: 

• Luke Willison: 3-for-3, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R, 1 BB 

• Now third in the conference with 9 home runs; leads the WSC-South with a .450 batting average. 

• Dustin Yela: 3-for-5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB 

• Nathan Hellein: 1-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 R 

• Derek Leader: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 SB 

• Jordan Quintero and Roman Huizar: 1 RBI each 

• Joshua Cortinas: 2-for-4, 1 R 

• Danyal Jenkins: 1-for-4, 1 SB 

Citrus will look to take the series in the rubber match this Saturday, April 12, as they head back to Los Angeles Valley College. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.