The Valencia freshmen won the morning half of their Saugus doubleheader 4-3 with a formula built on execution: two sacrifice flies, two sacrifice bunts, a bunt single, and a pitching staff that never walked a batter.

Elijah Patlian scored twice without a hit, reaching on errors in the first and third and coming home on sacrifice flies by Jackson Lord and Elijah Avlas. Saugus answered Valencia's early lead with a three-run third built on bunts and a misplay, but Lord's RBI single tied it in the bottom half, and the go-ahead run scored in the sixth when Marcus Paikos, moved along by a hit-by-pitch and Cooper Rzewuski's sacrifice, crossed on a bases-loaded wild pitch.

Gavin Dunbar struck out five without a walk over 5.2 innings, and Matthew Webb finished, stranding runners at second and third in the seventh when Paikos threw out the final batter from third base.

Jace Lindstrom handled six putouts behind the plate and Rzewuski seven at first; game 2 followed the same day.