Pictured L-R: Garrett Patterson, Nick Velazquez, Derek Almeda & Conner Luetto
College Baseball:
Citrus hosted Cypress College on Thursday, and the Owls entered the contest 1-2 after a pair of close losses to PCC (5-4) and Golden West (6-4).
And they were facing a Chargers team that opened the 2026 season 2-0 with victories over PCC and LA Pierce by a combined margin of 35-7.
The Owls trailed 2-1 late, but they rallied for nine eighth inning runs to secure a 10-4 victory.
Conner Luetto had an outstanding effort in spite of not getting credit for the win.
Luetto went the first five innings, and he was charged with one run on six hits.
He didn’t issue a walk and struck out eight Cypress batters.
Evan Ellis got the win after going one inning and allowing two runs on two hits.
Ellis walked one and fanned one batter.
Gabe Buranasiri got the final three outs without any damage, including two via strikeout.
Tyler Smith had a huge day at the plate.
Smith went 3-for-5 with a pair of solo HRs and three runs scored.
Tony Martinez had a double and an RBI single in the top of the ninth.
Wyatt Joyce singled and scored.
Gavin Johnson walked and doubled.
Justin Tillar walked and singled.
Ben Keisler singled twice in four at-bats.
Rohan Ramos (4) and Ayden Valdez (3) combined to go the first seven innings for Cypress, and they allowed just one run on six hits.
Cole Ferreira was saddled with the loss after surrendering two runs without getting an out.
Citrus got to Donald Murray for five runs on four hits in just 2/3 of an inning.
Four errors cost Cypress four runs.
Garrett Patterson had his best collegiate day at the plate after bouncing back from UCSD.
Patterson went 3-for-4 with a two-run double in the decisive eighth inning to give the Owls a 5-2 lead.
Patterson also scored once in the win.
Derek Almeda singled, doubled in a run and scored.
Nick Velazquez went 2-for-4 with a run and one RBI.
Julian Hines walked and scored.
Jordan Daniels, the program’s heartbeat, went 1-for-3, drew a pair of walks and scored two runs.
Cam Casado and Jackson Gray both had one single, a run and one RBI apiece.
Cole West walked and scored a pair of runs.
Up next: Citrus will host Imperial Valley on Friday at 1.
The Desert Warriors (4-1) secured a doubleheader victory at Chaffey by scores of 11-2 and 11-8 on Thursday.
Quotable:
Citrus pitcher, Conner Luetto: “Coming into the year, I just wanted to continue to learn and get out there and compete. I just want to do anything I can to help us win. Every punch is a hard-fought battle. A lot of my friends from high school play at Cypress and I kind of marked down this day as a special start. I just stuck to my game plan, I wanted to pound the zone and being aggressive early in the count. Our job as a staff is to keep us in it, and I have all the confidence in the world in our offense.”
Citrus catcher, Garrett Patterson: “This win meant a lot. The last two losses were close, and we thought we should have won them. Coach Andy, to his credit, got us together, and he told us, we could be 3-0 right now, but we’re sitting 1-2. And it wasn’t the start we were looking for. He’s a very skilled motivator and he brought us together and said we’re going to kick ass, and that we needed to find our identity. And that identity is playing together and having our brothers’ backs. Our starting pitcher, Connor Luetto, called us together before the eighth inning rally, and he said we’re not out of this and that it was time to punch back here. Our pitching staff has been nails through the first four games, but our hitters haven’t reached the level we’re capable of until today.”
Box Score:
Cypress: 0-0-1-0-0-0-1-0-2-(4)
Citrus: 0-0-0-1-0-0-0-9-X-(10)
Win: Evan Ellis
Loss: Cole Ferreira
HR: Tyler Smith (Cypress) 2
2B: Tony Martinez (Cypress), Gavin Johnson (Cypress), Ty Peters (Cypress); Derek Almeda (Citrus), Garrett Patterson (Citrus)
Records: Cypress (2-1); Citrus (2-2)
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