Saugus 15s come out flying on home turf

SAUGUS – For the last couple of summers, the group of players that comprise Saugus? 15-year-old Babe Ruth All-Star team had been hoping to have a chance to play in the state tournament.
On Tuesday, the District 1 champs got that chance, on their home field at World Series Park no less, as Jack O?Brien and Nik Lamonica combined on a four-hit shutout to lead Saugus to a 6-0 win over Newton in the opening game of the Eastern Massachusetts tournament presented by Wheelabrator Saugus.
?I was really happy to see us come out and play well,” Saugus manager Mike Mabee said. “Jack and Nik pitched well and we played good defense behind them.”
O?Brien had one rocky moment in his solid performance as Newton put a pair of runners on in the top of the first but Josh Davis grounded out to Robert Shields at first to end the inning.
Saugus rode that momentum to the game?s first run in the bottom of the inning. O?Brien singled with one out and then stole second. Nick Dascoli followed with a walk and Steven Pettenati singled to load the bases.
Newton starter T.J. Goldblatt uncorked a wild pitch, allowing O?Brien to score. Saugus settled for just one run as Goldblatt retired the next two batters to end the inning.
?It?s always good to come out and get a run early to get some momentum going,” Mabee said.
After holding Newton scoreless in the second, Saugus broke things open in the bottom of the inning.
Andrew Mikedis walked with one out and moved to second on Paul Stamatopoulos?s ground out. Shortstop John Torres extended the inning with a walk, bringing lead-off batter Vinnie Coppola to the plate.
The Saugus center fielder delivered a shot up the gap in right-center, scoring Torres and Mikedis to make it 3-0. After stealing third, Coppola came home when O?Brien?s grounder to third was thrown away.
O?Brien, meanwhile, was settling into a nice groove following his first-inning struggles, retiring 12 of the last 15 batters he faced in his outing thanks to solid defense and seven total strikeouts over his five innings.
?Our defense was able to make the plays we needed to. That was big because it helped keep Jack?s pitch count down,” Mabee said.
The lead stayed at 4-0 until the bottom of the fifth when Steven Pettenati led off with a double. He took third on Robert Shields? grounder to third and scored when first baseman Axel Dobreff tried to throw him out following a wide turn.
O?Brien departed in the top of the sixth in favor of Lamonica, who immediately ran into trouble. Goldblatt and Davis sandwiched walks around a Tae Lee single to load the bases with no outs.
Mabee called time and went out to try and settle Lamonica down. The move worked perfectly as Lamonica got a pair of fly outs to center and a ground out to second to end the inning.
?Nik did a great job of getting out of that jam,” Mabee said. “He was a little wild to begin with but settled down to get us out of that inning.”
Saugus added its final run in the bottom of the sixth as Mikedis walked, stole second, took third on a passed ball and came home on Lamonica?s sharp single to left.