Surging Sachems: Saugus baseball already way ahead of last season

By Dom Nicastro

The Saugus High School baseball team, led by Coach Joe Luis, is making significant strides in the current season.

After nine games, the Sachems sport a 6-3 record.

Recent wins against English (8-6) and Swampscott (3-0) not only bolstered their record but also demonstrated their strategic depth and execution under pressure.

Saugus also only committed one error between those two games, showing marked improvement from the prior games where errors arguably cost them a couple of losses.

Cam Soroko did the job against Swampscott, shutting down the Big Blue in a complete-game, 10-strikeout, two-walk three-hitter. The ace has been mowing down opponents all season and is a big reason why the Sachems, at the halfway point of the 2024 season, are already two games above their entire win total for the 2023 season.

“We’re definitely focusing more on pitch to pitch, out to out, inning to inning and taking it that way,” Luis said. “Looking at OK, the first ball of the game is not gonna make or break the game, which is how they played defense last year. … Let’s just play every batter as its own game and just win that defensive side with each batter, get each out and make the routine play. And then same thing with hitting. We’re definitely practicing a little bit more too on the hitting aspect of it with practice.”

Soroko helped himself with a 1-for-4 day at the plate and a run scored. Connor Bloom and Danny Zeitz each added two hits and an RBI, and Shane Bourque and Jordan Rodriguez had hits.

Saugus led, 2-0, after an inning.

“We scored early in the first to kind of make the difference, set the tone for the rest of the game,” said Luis.

In the Lynn English game, Saugus had 10 stolen bases. On the season, the team has stolen 36 bases in 37 tries, an extraordinary advantage and amazing success percentage on the base paths.

This exploitation of the opposing pitchers’ and catchers’ vulnerabilities underscores Saugus’s focus on keen observation and quick adaptation to in-game dynamics.

“We don’t just automatically go (and steal),” Luis said. “We pick and choose when we do go. We try to obviously go when a pitcher has a big leg kick or curveball count. If a pitcher is giving one look to the plate, we’ll go. So, speed has helped us a lot this year.”

Cam Bernard had a fine – and interesting – day on the mound in the Lynn English win. He started the game, going four innings of no-hit ball while striking out five.

He was relieved, but Saugus started to give away a big lead. So, Luis put Bernard back in the game on the mound to close things out. He pitched one more inning to get what may be on the official books a win and a save. “I marked it down as that,” Luis said. “I think it is official. We might have a story here.”

Zeitz was solid in relief, too, getting one crucial out.

Bloom had another two hits and two RBI against Lynn English and added two runs. Zietz, Bourque (two RBI), Rodriguez and Tyler Riley added hits.

Looking forward, Coach Luis is cautiously optimistic about the team’s improved defensive capabilities, a critical aspect that cost them in previous games. This focus on defense aligns with their broader strategy to strengthen all aspects of play, ensuring that the team remains competitive in upcoming games and beyond.