Leadoff hitter Ryan Steele went 3 for 4 with two doubles, a single and an RBI to lead Bakersfield College past Citrus 5-2 at Gerry Collis Field on April 9.
With the win, the Renegades improved to 18-11 overall and maintained their one-game lead over L.A. Pierce with an 11-4 record in the Western State Conference South Division.
Starting pitcher Jacob Wild threw five innings, giving up only two runs in the win while improving to 5-2 on the season.
The Owls were led by center fielder Chris Keilty, who went 2 for 5 with a double and a single. Citrus fell to 16-12 overall and 8-7 in the conference and remained in third place in the South Division.
BC scored in the second inning when Ricky Orton singled in Brett Prieto, who two batters earlier walked and stole second. That was followed by a home run by Kyle Morgan that gave BC an early 3-0 lead.
“Early, our hitters were working into dead fast ball counts, and we were hitting him (Citrus pitcher Alex Caldera) hard,” said BC coach Tim Painton.
Caldera (4-3) struggled early but settled down after giving up three runs in the second inning. “We thought he was dropping his arm a little bit, especially with his off-speed pitches,” said Citrus coach Steve Gomez. “Late in the seventh inning, he started getting the ball up again.”
Catcher D.J. Sims and Keilty started the third inning with back-to-back singles. But designated hitter Scott Marcus failed to advance the runners on a sacrifice bunt and struck out.
Eddie Crespo then grounded into a double play to end the inning and the scoring threat.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Owls were threatening again as Matt Ross advanced to third on the single by Chris Wrobel with only one out.
After striking out David Correa, Wild walked Chris Moore to load the bases. But Citrus was unable to capitalize as Sims grounded out for the final out of the inning.
Citrus finally scored in the next inning when Keilty doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Crespo, cutting the lead o 3-1. Crespo later scored on double steal, cutting BC’s lead to one. Wild was then pulled in favor of left-handed reliever Jarrod Bone, who came in to record the last two outs of the inning. Bone held the Owls to just two hits over the next three innings.
“Their left-hander (Bone) came in and threw well and got a lot of pop-ups,” said Gomez.
The Owls had trouble scoring the entire game, leaving eight men on base and scoring only two runs on 10 hits.
Both offenses were silent until the seventh inning when BC stretched its lead to 5-2 on three singles and two stolen bases.
“To add those two runs at the end of the game was good because Citrus is a great hitting team and a one-run lead just isn’t safe,” said Painton.
Since their losing streak that took place over spring, break the Renegades have reeled off five wins in a row.
“Our season is so long that sometimes teams aren’t playing well. We didn’t play well over spring break in any facet of the game, but we’ve won five in a row now,” Painton said.
“That’s just the nature of the game.”