The Citrus College baseball team won the final game of a three-game series against the Barstow College Vikings on April 6 at the Citrus College baseball field.
The game got off to a rough start for the Owls.
Starting pitcher Aaron “A.J.” Oddo only threw for 2.1 innings and was charged with three earned runs.
Pitching coach, Justin “Tito” Grijalva, collaborated with head coach of the Owls, Steve Gomez, and decided they had seen enough.
“Aaron has been struggling just a little bit. He started off pretty good in the first two innings but the third inning kind of got away from him we didn’t want the inning to get too big, three runs obviously we don’t want that,” Grijalva said.
Owls pitcher, Sam Gomez, came into the game in the middle of the third inning to relieve Oddo and pitched over five innings.
“Sam came in and shut the door down for us,” Tito said.
Gomez was awarded his second win of the season.
“I felt pretty good, my fastball was working really well and I was able to throw it past those guys,” Sam Gomez said. “I just kept hitting my spots and everything worked out and the defense was making plays.”
The reliever notched nine strikeouts during his five-inning outing and only surrendered three hits.
He was in a jam on more than one occasion against the Vikings but said that his in-game experience aids him when the game is on the line.
“I have a lot of experience especially this season with coming into the game in a struggle or in a situation so I know now to stay relaxed and stay focused and hit my spots and let the guy hit the ball and put it in play,” Sam Gomez said.
Coach Gomez said he was very pleased with the effort from Sam Gomez after Oddo’s lackluster performance.
“(Sam) was outstanding,” coach Gomez said. “The fastball was jumping out of his hands and they were having a hard time with that.”
The skipper said Oddo has been struggling lately with his release point on the mound and cited that as the reason for his short outing against Barstow.
Grijalva was also pleased with Sam Gomez’s performance.
“Sam came in and started throwing strikes right away. He was a big help for us especially when they jumped out and got the lead on us. Sam’s been throwing strikes consistently and he seemed to overpower them and it changed the momentum from their side to our side,” Grijalva said.
The Owls have secured a spot in second place in the Western States Conference East at 9-5.
Their next series will be a key matchup for the configuration in the east.
The second place Owls face off against the first place and defending champions Glendale College at 2:30 p.m. on April 8 at the Glendale baseball field for a three-game series.
