Salkeld Strikes Out 14 in Win

How rude it was for the home plate umpire to interrupt Saugus High right-hander Roger Salkeld’s strikeout show against visiting Canyon. Especially when Salkeld was about to bring down the curtain with two out in the seventh inning Thursday.

“No!” the man with the black chest protector bellowed, leaping out from behind the plate. “That’s a balk!” He pointed at Canyon base runner Rod Markovich at third. “You! Score!”

Salkeld took a walk--long enough to shake his head and offer a confused protest. Teammates Tom Dodson and Jared Snyder escorted him back to the mound.

Salkeld then pounded a fist in his glove and hurled a comet past a swinging Brad Anderson for his 14th strikeout and the final out in a 10-2 Golden League victory. The win was the seventh in a row for the first-place Centurions (7-2, 3-0) and Salkeld’s third consecutive complete-game victory.

“He said I split my hands after I stepped off the rubber,” said Salkeld, who scattered six hits and three walks to improve to 3-1. “But I could swear I split them after I stepped off. It was a weird game.”

Weird because Salkeld was not as overpowering as his strikeout total indicates--at least not in the first three innings. The 6-5 junior struggled with his control and hung a few curveballs that the Cowboys slapped for singles.

Canyon (2-4, 1-2) parlayed two singles and a walk into a first-inning run and might have scored more had not Dave Tyson lined a rope into first baseman Trevor Rice’s glove. The drive caught Gary Morgan off first and Rice stepped on the bag for an inning-ending double play.

Saugus countered with a run in the first on a sacrifice fly by Dodson that scored Darrell Davis, who reached base on an error. The Centurions scored a second unearned run in the third when Tyson misplayed Dodson’s soft chopper at first, allowing Mike Osment to score from third.

From that point on, Salkeld took control.

“I applaud what everyone says about him,” Canyon Coach Rich Montanio said of Salkeld. “They’ve got great pitching. But we got ourselves in trouble early with some mental errors.”

The Cowboys threatened in the fourth when Salkeld walked Corey Byers and Morgan to begin the inning. The plot thickened when Salkeld uncorked a wild pitch--one of three--to advance both runners. But Salkeld, who has 49 strikeouts in 27 innings, blew down Tyson, Jason Stanley and Mario Tresierras to end the inning.

Salkeld struck out 12 of the final 15 Canyon batters. Saugus erupted for three runs in the fifth and five in the sixth. Davis finished 2 for 3 with three runs scored and teammate George Lopata was 2 for 3 with two runs scored.