BABE HERMAN TOURNAMENT : Botched Bunt Beats Saugus, 5-3

Saugus High baseball Coach Doug Worley says he has a scrappy young team that must bunt and steal bases to beat stronger, more experienced opponents.

When the Centurions played powerful Buena High (16-2) in the semifinals of the 22nd annual Babe Herman Tournament on Tuesday, however, they were unable to properly execute the finer points of “Worleyball” and lost, 5-3, at Casey Stengel Field in Glendale.

“We played like a young team today,” Worley said. “We couldn’t get the bunt down when we had to and made a big base-running mistake in the middle of a potential rally. That was the ballgame.”

Saugus had a chance to defeat Buena--which won the past two Babe Herman tournaments--in the fifth inning.

With one out and the game tied, 2-2, John Myers reached first on a fielder’s choice. Scott Cogert and Dennis Moran then followed with consecutive singles to load the bases.

Buena brought in their best pitcher, Matt Shepherd, to replace starter Tim Shanahan. His first batter: Saugus clean-up hitter Kevin Miner.

With a 1-0 count, Miner attempted a suicide squeeze bunt that dropped straight down onto home plate and bounced six feet into the air. Buena catcher Mike Ertman leaped to catch the ball, stepped on the plate for a force out, then gunned the ball to shortstop Dave Dunn, who tagged out Moran between second and third.

“I put Shepherd in the game to get the double play,” Buena Coach Mike Glenn said. “It wasn’t your typical 6-4-3 job, but it worked.”

Things continued to work for the Vikings in their half of the fifth. First baseman Eric Gibson reached base on an error and moved to second on a wild pitch. Dunn then singled, moving Gibson to third.

Kevin French then belted a run-scoring sacrifice fly to deep center field to give the Vikings a 3-2 lead.

Saugus countered with a run of its own in the sixth. Chris Joy, who had two hits and two runs batted in, doubled to lead off the inning. He scored on Charlie Miltenberger’s check-swing single to right, tying the game, 3-3.

Buena scored two more runs in their half of the sixth, however, on back-to-back run-scoring singles by Ertman and Gibson. Shepherd then picked up the win by retiring Saugus in order in the seventh.

Buena will play for its third straight Babe Herman title against either Rio Mesa or Glendale in the championship game at 7 p.m. at Stengel Field.

Saugus will play the loser of the Rio Mesa-Glendale semifinal for third place at 1 p.m.