Sanchez Ends Saugus Season With 3-Hitter

Talk about your high-powered batteries.

The pitcher-catcher combination of Gerardo Sanchez and Javier Rojas was more than enough to energize visiting Central Union High of El Centro, which whipped Saugus, 5-1, Friday afternoon in a Southern Section 3-A Division quarterfinal.

Offensively, Saugus (15-10) failed to turn its engine over, managing just three hits against Sanchez (10-0). The senior left-hander featured a skull-and-crossbones pin screwed into the bridge of his eyeglasses and a split-fingered fastball that was just as intimidating.

Sanchez boasts a 23-1 record as a varsity pitcher and has not lost since his sophomore season. He threw just 76 pitches, walked none and faced three batters over the minimum.

His only rough moment came on his first pitch, a waist-high fastball that Josh Nolan deposited over the left-center-field fence for his fifth home run.

“I just figured, ‘Well, these guys are a fastball-hitting team. No more of that,’ ” Sanchez said.

In the meantime, Rojas filled his end of the battery bargain with two home runs off Saugus starter Doug Maggiora (8-4).

Little surprise there. Rojas, like most of his teammates, wore a T-shirt under his jersey emblazoned with the team slogan: “You hang ‘em, We bang ‘em.”

Maggiora, unfortunately, hung two of ‘em to Rojas.

“We made two mistakes to the only guy on their team who could hurt us,” Saugus Coach Doug Worley said. “If you throw those out, (Maggiora) pitched a great game. But you can’t throw those out.”

Maggiora allowed six hits and one walk in 6 1/3 innings, but Rojas’ two-run homer in the first and a solo homer in the sixth ruined his day.

The rest was up to Sanchez, who struck out seven. He retired Saugus batters with such efficiency that some innings lasted no longer than three or four minutes.

Sanchez, who will attend Imperial Valley College in the fall, struck out Scott Minkler and John Lopata to end the game and send Central Union (16-8) into the semifinals for the first time in 16 years.

“His split-finger was working just super today,” Central Union Coach David Middleton said. “Gerardo is just a very mature young man.”