SAUGUS — In a battle between two of the top pitchers in the area on Thursday, Lynn English picked up a road win against Saugus in 2-1 fashion.
English’s Jason Figuereo pitched five innings, allowing one run and striking out five to earn the win. In the other dugout, Saugus’ Cam Soroko went six innings, also retiring five.
Both coaches praised their pitchers postgame.
“Cam pitched one hell of a game. I feel bad that he pitched a great game and doesn’t get the reward of winning the game,” Saugus coach Joe Luis said. “He kept us in the game. They just made a couple more plays than us. We had a couple of errors that gave them the opportunity to take advantage of us.”
English coach Esteban Paula was more than delighted with Figuereo’s outing.
“Jason came out huge today,” Paula said. “That was a great performance from him.”
Saugus broke the deadlock in the bottom of the third – that’s when do-it-all [Cam] Soroko hit a single to drive in Nathen Soroko for a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately for the Sachems, the lead didn’t last long as the Bulldogs responded in the next inning. Janier Rodriguez stole home on a passed ball to even things 1-1.
“I love when we’re behind and we come back. It shows that your team can respond at any time,” Paula said. “There was no panic. Everybody did a good job in that respect.”
The Bulldogs completed the comeback in the sixth inning. On a Saugus error, Eldrian Bonilla reached home plate to make it 2-1, the eventual final score.
With the lead, Paula decided to bring in relief pitcher Wilfredo Perez to close things out. Perez pitched the final two innings and recorded two strikeouts, picking up the save for the visitors.
“I think he’s the number one pitcher from the bullpen. He’s been throwing a lot of strikes and he played great today,” Paula said.
The Sachems had a chance to tie the game in the seventh inning after Javier Cruz-Fuentes reached first on an infield single. Cruz-Fuentes then advanced to second after a sacrifice bunt from Connor Kelleher.
But unfortunately for Saugus, he was stuck there until the end.
“We had the tying run on second in the seventh inning, but we just couldn’t knock him in. It’s part of being a young team – they have to learn how to take advantage of the opportunities they have,” Luis said.
Despite the loss, Luis was happy with his group’s competitive nature.
“They competed today… that’s all I can ask from them,” Luis said. “We know the mistakes we made and now we just need to fix them.”
Paula liked how his team played an all-around game.
“Today, we did a good job offensively and defensively. Just making the routine play and getting the baseball in play,” Paula said.
The Sachems look to bounce back Monday when they host Stoneham at 4 p.m., while the Bulldogs travel to Revere at 4 p.m. the same day.
