Winning 11-3 at Golden Valley on Friday, Saugus baseball stays alive and in the hunt for an automatic playoff berth as they only have two more games remaining in the regular season.
Moving within one game of the third-place Vikings, Saugus (12-11-1 overall, 7-6 in Foothill League) had a great game from Paxton Cudd, Hewitt Grissom, Nolan Kutcher, Tony Jacob, Andy Vierra and Brandyn Cruz who all had multiple hits on the day.
Cruz was also on the mound for the Centurions as he pitched five innings, giving up three runs and striking out seven.
“He’s Brandyn Cruz, he always keeps us in the game,” said Saugus head coach Carl Grissom. “He had a couple big hits for us today and when he’s on the mound I always feel comfortable with his ability.”
For Golden Valley (9-16, 0-13), Chandler Smith, Andrew Castaneda and Matt Broadwater all went 1-for-3 on the day.
“We need to continue to play defense and pitch well,” said Golden Valley head coach Matt Sorensen. “Everybody has to do their job and if that happens we have a chance to win on any given day.”
Both teams will play two more games on Tuesday and Thursday. Golden Valley will host West Ranch and Saugus will travel to Canyon.
“This is huge for us, but we still have a long way to go against Canyon to have any kind of shot,” Grissom said about the playoff race. “We have to take care of business to make it into playoffs.
“Golden Valley is up-and-coming. What coach Sorensen is doing over there is great. He’s got a great good group of kids and he’s going to break some hearts in the upcoming years.”
