Sachems edged by Lynn English in low-scoring battle

  For one of the few times this spring, the young Saugus High School baseball team suffered a convincing loss in a 10-2 defeat at the hands of the Swampscott Big Blue last Wednesday on the road. But last Thursday’s close 2-1 loss to the Lynn English Bulldogs at World Series Park was more indicative of the pattern this season has taken.

  Against English, the Sachems, as they have done often in these games, struck first by taking a 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Cam Soroko drove in the run with a single (one of his two hits on the day). But the Bulldogs responded with single tallies in the fourth and sixth frames to eventually emerge triumphant.

  Soroko was the starting pitcher and produced another solid outing. He went the seven-inning distance and allowed just three hits. The two runs against him were unearned. He did walk six hitters but he also fanned eight.

  Saugus’s Javier Cruz-Fuentes reached base on an infield single in the bottom of the seventh inning and got to second base. That’s as far as he would get, as English was able to close out the game. All told, Saugus managed five hits off Bulldogs’ pitching. Tyler Riley and Nathan Soroko, who scored the lone Sachems run, contributed singles.

  After the game, Head Coach Joe Luis told the press that his young squad is doing all he’s asked by competing well. “They have to learn how to take advantage of the opportunities they have,” he said. “We know the mistakes we made and now we just need to fix them.”

  In the loss at Swampscott, the Sachems were unable to muster a hit off Big Blue pitching. Cam Soroko had an RBI as Saugus did produce two runs despite being no-hit. Swampscott scored four runs in the third and three more in the fourth to build an 8-1 lead. Jordan Rodriguez got the start and hurled four innings. Danny Zietz and Connor Kelleher worked the remaining three frames for the Sachems.

  Saugus stood at 1-9 overall as of early this week and played at Marblehead on Wednesday. The Sachems then travel to Salem for a game on Friday and return home for a Saturday afternoon makeup game at home against Stoneham (scheduled 2:30 p.m. start).