SAUGUS — Behind a clutch RBI single from Jason Casaletto in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Saugus baseball team outlasted Northeastern Conference foe Peabody by a score of 4-3 in extra innings Wednesday evening at World Series Park.
Casaletto also earned the win on the mound, tossing three innings of relief and allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts.
“That was a great win against a great team that’s well-coached, and we really needed that one,” said Saugus coach Joe Luis. “We still made some baserunning mistakes out there — which has been our issue all season with such a young team — but the guys kept battling and came up with the big plays at the right time.”
Casaletto went 2-for-5 with one RBI, while Anthony Macone (1-for-5), Ryan Anderson (0-for-0) and Kyle McLaughlin (0-for-1) each had one RBI. Michael Howard (2-for-4, double), Nathan Ing (1-for-4), Anthony Cicolini (1-for-4) and Sean O’Rourke (1-for-3) added hits in the victory.
Ing earned the start on the mound for Saugus, pitching the first six innings and allowing two runs on seven hits with six walks and nine strikeouts.
For Peabody, Giovani Guglielmo led the offense after going 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI. Mike Krause went 2-for-3 with one RBI, while Jacob Palharas went 1-for-5 with one RBI.
Dom Annese and Justin Powers pitched the bulk of the game for the Tanners, with Annese going the first five — allowing two runs on three hits with five strikeouts — and Powers pitching three in relief — allowing no runs on two hits with three strikeouts. Mike Geissler and Evan DeLillo also saw time on the mound, with DeLillo taking the loss.
After getting put down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning, Peabody got on the board first with a pair of runs in the second. Two singles, a runner caught stealing and a passed ball put a man on third with one out for Palharas, who smacked an RBI single up the middle to put the Tanners ahead 1-0. Three batters later, Krause knocked an RBI single of his own and Peabody led by a score of 2-0.
That score held until the bottom of the fifth, as Annese worked through the first four innings with a good bit of ease. But he ran into some trouble in the fifth, giving up a double, a single and a hit batter to load up the bases. Annese proceeded to walk two batters in a row — Anderson and McLaughlin — to bring in two runs and tie the score at 2-2.
The score remained there into extra innings, but Peabody jumped ahead again on an RBI double from Guglielmo to make it 3-2 in the top of the ninth.
But Saugus didn’t give up. The Sachems moved a runner to third base before Macone knocked home the tying run on an RBI single. Three batters later, with the bases loaded, Casaletto stepped in and notched the game-winning hit.
Peabody (5-6) has a quick turnaround with a road game against Danvers Thursday afternoon (4).
Saugus (3-7) hosts Salem Monday (4) back at World Series Park. Luis hopes that the momentum of Wednesday’s win will carry over into the rest of the season.
“I’m hoping this gives us a lot of momentum,” said Luis. “That’s a Division 1 team we beat (in Peabody), so now we’ve maybe stolen a game that we weren’t supposed to win. Right now, we’re just trying to prepare for the tournament and get better every day.”
