Citrus Baseball Wins Fourth Straight With 11–5 Road Victory at San Diego City

No. 23 state-ranked Citrus College baseball picked up an 11–5 road win at San Diego City College on Saturday, Feb. 7. The victory marked the Owls' fourth straight and improved Citrus to 5–2 overall on the season, while San Diego City fell to 4–5.

Citrus scored six unanswered runs to pull away from San Diego City. The Knights opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a sacrifice fly to take a 1–0 lead. The Owls answered in the third when Jordan Daniels evened the game with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Dominic Torrez.

Citrus took the lead for good in the fourth inning when Cole West stole second base and Beau Lloyd scored on a throwing error by the catcher. The Owls added to the lead in the fifth as Cam Casado singled to left field to score Derek Almeda, making it 3–1.

Citrus broke the game open in the sixth inning. Daniels doubled to center field to drive in two runs, and Casado followed with a two-run single later in the frame to extend the Owls' lead to 7–1.

San Diego City trimmed the deficit with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, but Citrus responded in the seventh when Julian Hines singled to center field to score West and Nick Velazquez.

Hines added an RBI single in the ninth, and Citrus tacked on another run on a wild pitch before San Diego City plated three runs in the bottom of the ninth to account for the final margin.

Citrus was led offensively by Daniels, Casado and Hines, who each drove in three runs. Daniels went 1-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and two walks, while Casado finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two stolen bases. Hines went 2-for-2 with three RBIs, a walk and a stolen base. Almeda went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a double and two stolen bases, and Torrez scored twice, drew a walk and stole two bases. Velazquez and West each added two stolen bases as Citrus totaled nine steals in the win.

On the mound, Michael Moses earned the win to improve to 2–0 after allowing one run on five hits over five innings, striking out six and walking one. Gabe Buranasiri followed with two scoreless innings, while Sean York worked a clean eighth inning with three strikeouts. Christian Eaton closed the game with a scoreless ninth. Citrus pitching limited San Diego City to seven hits, did not allow a home run and struck out 11.

Up next, Citrus returns home to host Santa Barbara City College on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m.