Owls Fall in Super Regional Opener at Santa Ana

Citrus College Baseball dropped Game 1 of the 3C2A Baseball Southern California Super Regionals on Thursday afternoon, falling to Santa Ana College 7-6. 

The now 33-12 Owls trail 0-1 in the best-of-three series and will look to force a decisive Game 3 when the teams meet again Friday, May 8 at 1 p.m. at Don Sneddon Baseball Field on the campus of Santa Ana College. 

Citrus appeared poised to steal Game 1 on the road after building a four-run lead behind a 10-hit performance and a pair of home runs. The Owls led 6-2 entering the seventh inning before Santa Ana rallied with four runs in the frame and eventually walked off the game in the bottom of the ninth. 

After Santa Ana opened the scoring in the first inning, Citrus answered in the third when Dustin Yela lined an RBI single down the left-field line to score Garrett Patterson and tie the game at 1-1. 

The Owls took control in the fifth inning with back-to-back home runs. Dominic Torrez launched a two-run shot to left field to give Citrus a 3-2 lead before Cole West followed with a solo homer to right-center to extend the advantage to 4-2. 

Citrus added two more runs in the sixth as Yela delivered again, ripping a two-run triple to left-center that scored Jackson Gray and Nick Velazquez to push the lead to 6-2. 

Yela paced the Owls offensively, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs, a triple and a walk. Torrez finished 2-for-3 with his first home run of the season and two RBIs, while West added his fifth homer of the year. Patterson tripled and scored, and Velazquez added a hit and a run scored. 

Michael Moses started on the mound for Citrus and allowed two runs over two innings. Matthew Martinez tossed four innings in relief, while Gabe Buranasiri worked 2 1/3 innings. Julian Hines recorded the final out of the eighth inning. 

Santa Ana cut into the deficit in the seventh inning with a two-run homer before adding two more runs later in the frame to even the score at 6-6. 

The Dons completed the comeback in the ninth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Citrus had an opportunity to turn a game-ending double play, but Santa Ana beat the relay throw to bring home the winning run. 

Citrus will attempt to keep its season alive Friday afternoon in Game 2 of the series.