Sachems fall short in close games

  Despite dropping five of its first six contests of the 2023 season, the young Saugus High School baseball team has been in just about all of them. The young Sachems have lost by an average of under two runs a game over their last four defeats.

  The pitching has been very good, as was again the case in Wednesday’s 3-2 extra-inning morning loss to the Winthrop Vikings at World Series Park. Starter Cam Soroko allowed just two runs on two hits and fanned 12 in his six innings of work. Cam Bernard hurled the final two innings and ended up conceding the winning run.

  The Sachems scored twice in the bottom of the first inning to take a quick 2-0 lead. But they wouldn’t be able to add to the advantage. Shane Bourque smacked two hits and scored once while Nathan Soroko and Bernard collected RBIs. The visiting Vikings managed single runs in the fourth and fifth frames to tie it before bringing home the winning tally in the top of the eighth.

  Last Wednesday, the Sachems led Masconomet 3-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning when the host Chieftains rallied for three runs and came away with a 5-3 win. Cam Soroko (nine strikeouts) pitched well but ended up allowing the five runs on six hits. Offensively, Saugus managed just four hits in the loss. Nathan Soroko had two RBIs and Bernard drove in a run as well.

  Last Thursday at Peabody, the offense struggled again and collected just two hits off Tanners’ starter Cam Connolly in an eventual 3-1 setback. Tyler Riley drove in the lone Sachem run with a base hit in the second inning. Bernard was every bit Connolly’s equal. He tossed six innings of three-hit ball and struck out five. The game was tied at one until Peabody pushed a run across in the bottom of the third inning to go ahead 2-1. The Tanners added an insurance tally in the fifth for the final margin.

  The 1-5 Sachems host Beverly on Friday and take on Shawsheen Valley Tech next Monday, April 24, at home in a rematch of the season opener, which Shawsheen won by a 9-5 count.

  Cam Soroko has been Saugus’s top hitter so far through six games with a .300 average. Nathan Soroko has a .450 on-base percentage (OBP), followed by Bernard (.429) and Riley (.421). Cam Soroko has a 1.58 ERA on the mound while Bernard has compiled a 2.47 ERA in his outings.