Salkeld Proves Quite a Relief for Saugus in 2-0 Victory

Seems like the game at Saugus High is never over until the last man has been struck out by Roger Salkeld. At least that was the case Friday.

Salkeld, Saugus’ ace right-hander-turned-ace-reliever, recorded a very special K with two out and the bases loaded in the seventh inning, hurling three comets past Hesperia’s Sean Sers to preserve the Centurions’ 2-0 victory in the opening round of the Southern Section 3-A Division baseball playoffs.

Saugus (20-4-2) will play Glenn on Tuesday at a site to be determined.

Salkeld, who is 10-0 with 141 strikeouts in 83 1/3 innings this season, posted his fourth save after relieving fellow senior Scott Warr (7-2) with none out and runners at first and second.

A sacrifice bunt placed runners at second and third before Salkeld struck out John Rocca, Hesperia’s eighth-place hitter. Salkeld walked pinch-hitter Aaron Cromer, but mowed down Sers quicker than you can say no runs, one hit, no errors, three left on base.

“I wanted Scott to finish the game,” Salkeld said. “He’s really intense. The guy owned the game.”

Until the appearance of Salkeld, who was greeted by thunderous applause, the spotlight clearly had belonged to Warr. The bespectacled left-hander had spent just 61 pitches through six innings in stifling the Scorpions on three hits.

In the fourth innning, Warr accounted for the game’s only scoring with a towering home run--his seventh of the year--with Matt Tull aboard.

In the seventh, however, he tired, yielding a bad-hop single to leadoff hitter David Munoz and walking Jamie Jara on five pitches.

Salkeld, who started at first base, visited the mound to offer encouragement, but Warr gave the ball a good rub and pressed it against Salkeld’s chest.

“That was the best game I’ve pitched all year,” said Warr, who struck out three, walked three and allowed only one runner to reach third. “But I was running out of gas. I was just glad I could count on Roger to come in.”

Salkeld, who has shed five pounds while battling the flu the past week, has been able to count on few things lately, especially digestion. He ate for the first time in days Thursday night and consequently hoped he would be granted a day off from mound duty.

“I hate it,” Salkeld said of relief duty. “I hate it. You’re just not really into the game.”

Saugus Coach Doug Worley insisted that the decision to start Warr was necessitated by Salkeld’s ill health, not by an assumption that Hesperia (11-12), the No. 3 team from the San Andreas League and a purportedly weak first-round foe, might be easily defeated, thereby leaving Salkeld fresh for a second-round start Tuesday.

“Even if he were to win today,” Worley said of Salkeld, “we had doubts that he would be able to come back and pitch Tuesday. He hasn’t been feeling well.”

Salkeld struggled early with his control, striking out Rocca on a 2-2 count and walking Cromer on five pitches, the first a strike.

Salkeld, however, caught Sers looking at the first and third of three consecutive fastballs.

“We had to see their best in order for them to win,” Hesperia Coach Bob Gradillas said. “I guess that’s a compliment to us. I was hoping that somebody would put the ball in play, but nobody’s going to hit him. Nobody’s hit him all year. He’s going straight to the big leagues where he belongs.”