SAUGUS — With the season fast approaching, Saugus baseball coach Joe Luis has a lot of high hopes for this team and what it’s put together over the past few years.
With nine returning seniors, this year’s Sachems are what Luis considers a veteran team — with four of those seniors being captains. The captains are shortstop Anthony Macone, third-baseman Nathan Ing, right-fielder Drew Gardner and first-baseman Ryan Anderson.
According to their coach, the captains have been phenomenal and all play their own special role on this team.
“Ing has the confidence in his hitting and pitching ability to be the main leader ― everyone will be feeding off him,” said Luis. “The other kids in the dugout are looking up to him. He batted .512 last year.”
As for Macone, Luis said he has been playing since he was a freshman and is one of the only kids in this season’s lineup to do so.
“He knows what it’s like to be on a winning team; he brings that kind of character,” said Luis.
“Gardner brings the leadership into our dugout ― we’ll call him the enforcer,” Luis added. “He’s a big guy and really works hard. No one works harder than him. Anderson is just a special guy that does everything. He’s done everything I’ve asked as a coach. He helps out off the field, whether it’s fundraisers or practices. He deserves to have the ‘C’ on his chest.”
One of the main things that Luis hopes for his team is that they bring a higher level of pitching and defense to the competition.
“Pitching and defense is what I always preach upon; those two things win championships,” said Luis. “That’s what we continue to work on all the time. Hopefully that’s what gives us the edge in those really close — 1-0, 3-2 — important games.”
Outside of the performance on the diamond, Luis wants the season to be memorable for these kids. With the number of seniors that he has on this team, he wants their final year to stick with them for as long as possible so they have stories to tell in the future.
“I really really want these kids to make the most of their senior year, because there are so many of them,” said Luis. “They want to go out with a winning record and have a good playoff run, because of those nine guys, maybe seven of them won’t ever pick up a baseball again after they leave high school. So, I want this to end on a high note for them.”
A lot of these seniors have been playing together for the last few years, according to Luis, and that’s another thing that helps their chemistry both in the dugout and on the diamond.
“We just want to focus on playing good defense,” said Luis. “They’re like a brotherhood and they’re going to be backing up their brothers out in the field.”
Luis’ excitement comes second to what he wants for his boys, but just like the kids on his team, he’s excited to get things going.
“I’m just excited about getting back into a routine, because the last couple years we didn’t have that,” said Luis. “The last couple years, it’s been hard with COVID. So, I’m just excited for things to be back to normal.”
Saugus’ home stadium, World Series Park, has added brand-new lights, which means the Sachems will be playing their first home night games at some point during the season, which is another thing Luis is excited about. Night baseball, he says, just has a much different feeling.
Saugus is set to kick off its season Monday (4:30) against Greater Lawrence.
