Saugus Babe Ruth 14s cruise past Peabody

LYNN – The Saugus 14-year-old Babe Ruth baseball team trailed Peabody 2-1 heading into the top of the third inning Tuesday night at Clancy Field at Breed Middle School before a six-run rally swung the momentum Saugus’ way for good. At game’s end, Saugus walked off the field with a convincing 12-3 victory, leaving it in a solid position for the rest of the tournament.Saugus will next face a fellow undefeated team: Lynn (2-0).Rob Pagliuca (2-2, 2 walks), who started the game on the bench, led off the crucial third inning with a sharp single to left, setting the stage for Saugus’ rally. Pagliuca stole second on the ensuing pitch to Luke Surette (2 hits, 2 RBI), who worked a walk, leaving two on.Cleanup hitter Brendan Grocki (2 hits, 2 RBI) singled to center, scoring Pagliuca to tie the game before Tyler Serino walked, leaving the bases loaded. Peabody starter Gabe Reynolds walked Brendan Wood, forcing in Surette.After getting Danny Bertrand to pop out to shortstop, Reynolds issued back-to-back run-scoring walks to Nick Landry and Evan DeCristoforo before balking twice with Adam DiChiara at the plate, scoring two more. DiChiara would walk before Reynolds was removed.On in relief, Derek Carassi walked Pagliuca before getting Surette and Grocki on a pop-out and strikeout, respectively. The six-run implosion left Peabody in a 7-2 hole, which it would never recover from.”The kids were patient at the plate and started working the count, which earned us some walks and the balks,” said Saugus manager Tom Wood of the huge inning. “We were aggressive on the bases and pieced together what we could and changed a deficit into a lead.”DiChiara, who had allowed two unearned runs in the second off an error in left field on a ball hit by Ryan Mullen, found his groove after his team got the big lead. Two scoreless innings gave way to Peabody’s run-scoring fifth, where Robert Mullins came home on an RBI groundout from Jake LaFlamme.DiChiara finished the complete game with three strikeouts and one walk, while scattering just three hits.”He stuck with us after our defense made some errors in that second inning and kept his poise,” said Wood of DiChiara’s outing. “We played good defense the rest of the way and he kept throwing strikes.”Saugus added a run in the fifth as Pagliuca tripled to right center before scoring on a wild pitch. The lead was stretched to ten in the seventh as Surette laced a two-run single to left before an error in left brought home two more.Saugus got its first run in the top of the opening frame as the middle of the order got off to a quick start. Surette singled with two outs before Grocki ripped a double to left, scoring Surette from first.Wood was thoroughly impressed with his big hitters all day long.”Luke came up with a couple of big hits as he has been all tournament long and Grocki as well,” said Wood. “Rob came in off the bench and singled to start the big third and we rolled from there.”