With four games in five days this week, the San Bernardino Valley College baseball team was looking for a strong start - even though coach Jason Kounas was planning to treat Tuesday's game against Citrus College as a bullpen game.

The offense held up its end of the bargain, and Izick Leyva ended up pitching the final 5 2/3 innings as the Wolverines outslugged the Owls 18-10 at home.

The game was a back-and-forth battle until the fifth. Tied at eight after four innings, the Owls took a 9-8 lead in the top half of the fifth. Cesar Ortega and Zachary Marquez had back-to-back one out singles to start the action, followed by an RBI single by Cy Robertson. Michael McQueen followed with a walk to load the bases, and Kaleb jastro and Joseph Guzman followed with walks of their own to to give SBVC its first lead. After a pitching change, Jason Del Villar drove home McQueen with a sacrifice fly, giving SBVC a 12-9 lead after five. 

SBVC had rallied to tie the game in the bottom half of the third, with Del Villar providing the big blow, blasting a three-run shot over the yellow line on the netting in left. Del Villar ended the game 2-for-4 with a double to go with his home run, and six runs batted in. SBVC's top two in the batting order - Robertson and McQueen - were a combined 7-for-10 at the plate, scoring seven of the Wolverines' runs. Brandon Alvarez and Castro each had 3 RBI, while Guzman walked four times and scored twice.

On the mound, Leyva came in and kept the Owls off-balance at the plate, ending a four-run rally by Citrus. He started slow, walking the first batter he faced, then throwing a wild pitch to allow runners to move up. But after that he settled down, striking out Daniel Rios and then getting Alex Hernandez to fly out to kill the rally. From there, he settled in, taking over the game. He spread four hits over his 5 2/3 innings, allowing only two runs (one unearned).