Baseball Takes Two of Three Against West LA College in Conference Series

The Citrus College baseball team picked up a pair of wins in their three-game conference series against West Los Angeles College this week, improving their overall record to 13-23 and 8-10 in conference play. West LA drops to 9-27 overall and 4-14 in conference. 

After grabbing an 8-5 victory on the road in Game 2 on Thursday, the Owls fell 10-5 at home in Saturday's series finale. 

Game 2 Recap – April 17 (Citrus 8, West LA 5)

Citrus came out swinging on Thursday, jumping to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Nathan Hellein scored on a Jordan Quintero groundout, Luke Willison crossed the plate on a Wildcats error, and Joshua Cortinas drove in Roman Huizar with an RBI single. 

West LA quickly answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie it at 3-3. 

The Owls regained the lead in the sixth when Willison ripped a double down the left-field line, scoring Hellein to make it 4-3. Citrus broke the game open in the seventh, highlighted by a two-RBI flyout from Michael Reyes and a pair of West LA errors that allowed the Owls to extend their lead to 8-3. 

The Wildcats managed two more runs, but pitcher Jonathan Maldonado shut the door with two solid innings of relief to seal the 8-5 win. 

Stat Leaders (Game 2):

• Derek Leader: 3-for-5, 1 run 

• Joshua Cortinas: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 run, 1 SB 

• Luke Willison: 2-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 run, 1 SB 

• Danyal Jenkins: 2-for-4, 1 run, 4 SB (season high) 

• Dustin Yela: 1 RBI, 2 SB 

• Isaac Gonzales (W, 9-5): 7 IP, 4 ER, 5 K 

• Jonathan Maldonado: 2 IP, 1 ER, 2 K 

Game 3 Recap – April 19 (West LA 10, Citrus 5)

In the series finale, Citrus briefly held the momentum after scoring three runs in the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. Danyal Jenkins brought in Derek Leader with an RBI single, then both Cortinas and Jenkins scored on wild pitches. 

However, West LA responded with a four-run third inning to reclaim the lead, 5-3. The Owls narrowed the gap to 5-4 on a Dustin Yela RBI single in the fourth, but the Wildcats tacked on five more runs down the stretch to secure a 10-5 win. 

Citrus added one more in the eighth on a Sebastian Ancheta RBI single that plated Derek Leader. 

Stat Leaders (Game 3):

• Danyal Jenkins: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 run, 1 SB 

• Joshua Cortinas: 2-for-4, 1 run 

• Derek Leader: 1-for-2, 2 runs, 1 BB 

• Nathan Hellein: 1-for-3, 2 BB, highlight-reel diving catch in the sixth inning 

The Owls close out their season next week with a three-game series against Glendale College. Game 1 is scheduled for Tuesday, April 22 at 2 p.m. at home.