SANTA CLARITA — Better late than never.
Saugus baseball faced adversity late in its postseason opener against Walnut on Thursday, but the Centurions came out on top 5-2 in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs.
After a solid start to his outing, Saugus pitcher Gavin Diaz was replaced in the fifth inning with runners at second and third base and one out in a scoreless game.
Walnut (14-14-1) scored the first run of the contest courtesy of an RBI groundout and take a 1-0 lead.
With Saugus (15-14) suddenly having only nine outs left to extend their season, the Centurions offense came alive quickly.
Senior designated hitter Zack Seeley started that bottom of the fifth with a leadoff walk, and after Nicholas Zepeda ripped a hard single to center, junior Abe Ramirez stepped into the box with runners at first and second and one out.
Sitting in a prime RBI spot to potentially tie up the game, Ramirez did more than that when he hit a no-doubt three-run home run to left field to give Saugus a 3-1 lead as the home crowd erupted.
“In the beginning, I saw two curveballs and I didn’t wanna swing at anything. They were pretty low, so I was telling myself, ‘See something up,’” Ramirez said about the at-bat that ended in his eighth home run of the season.
“And then on that third pitch I got a fastball up and luckily got my hands to it and banged it.”
Saugus moves on to a second-round matchup at San Marino on Tuesday.
Saugus extended its lead to 4-1 later in the inning when senior Matt Long hit an RBI single to center, their fourth and final run scored in a long fifth inning that Saugus head coach Mike Miller said was thanks to his team’s patience at the plate throughout the game.
“We knew he (Walnut starting pitcher Dylan Nuñez) was a really good pitcher so we really wanted to get him deep in the pitch count because we knew once we get deep in the pitch count we’ll get more fastballs, breaking balls, hopefully up and that’s what happened. We executed early with having long at-bats and I think it paid off for our offense later in the game.”
Walnut and Saugus added another run each in the sixth inning and headed to the seventh with Saugus leading 5-2.
Walnut threatened in the seventh when a walk and single put runners at first and second with just one out, but back-to-back flyouts to left field put an end to their late rally.
“Whether we’re up or down we fight together, we play Saugus baseball, we believe in each other,” Miller said.