PREP BASEBALL NOTEBOOK: SAUGUS FRESHMEN PROMISING.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

Ian Bridges, Brett Finley and Jason Pfau spent all of last season on Saugus High's freshman baseball team as part of the Centurions' effort to keep all the freshmen together. However, the trio's play this summer is making it evident they are among the top candidates to make the jump to varsity next season.

``They have a tremendous future, all three of them,'' Saugus coach Casey Burrill said. ``They're not overmatched. If anything, they're excelling.''

Bridges, a catcher and second baseman, batted a team-high .500 with 22 RBI, two home runs and nine stolen bases for the freshman team.

Finley, an infielder, batted .349 with 14 RBI and provided solid defense.

``He was a surprise, something we didn't really know about until the middle of the season,'' Burrill said of Finely, who is 2 for 3 with a walk through five summer games. ``But we really like what he's shown us.''

Pfau is a left-handed pitcher, with an arm Burrill describes as ``tremendous.'' Control was Pfau's biggest weakness - he went 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA last season - but already he is making progress and has done well against more experienced hitters. He has struck out five and allowed three hits in five innings of summer play.

--Looking for arms: When Chris Alheim returns for his junior season, he'll already have a year's worth of experience as a varsity starter. That's the good news for Saugus. The bad news is that most of the remainder of the pitching staff graduated.

Establishing the pitching staff of the future is one of Saugus' primary goals during the summer.

``Now we're kind of in a scramble to find No. 2 and No. 3 pitchers,'' Burrill said.

In addition to Pfau, the Centurions are looking at Matt Hughes and Luke Ajer as candidates to help the pitching staff. Both played on varsity this year but rarely pitched.

--Strikeouts keep coming: Canyon left-hander Jake Coash led the region with 126 strikeouts in 77 innings during his junior season, and batters haven't had any better luck making contact against him during summer- league play. Coash recorded 12 strikeouts Sunday.

--New coach: Former Palmdale coach Lance Pierson has been hired as head coach at Quartz Hill, replacing Maury Cauchon.

Pierson guided Palmdale to the Golden League title in 1999.

If Quartz Hill's performance during the summer is an indication of what to expect next season, Pierson should be inheriting another league-title contender. Quartz Hill is 7-1 in American Legion play after Tuesday's 15-5 loss to Lancaster.

--Low profile: Highland of Palmdale was hoping to participate in a wood-bat league this summer but plans fell through, leaving the Bulldogs without a summer program.

Some of the players are playing on various American Legion teams, but Highland's only opportunity to play together will be in its summer-school baseball class. The down time might not be such a bad thing, according to Bulldogs coach Todd Zucker, who saw his team thrust into the spotlight because of disciplinary problems late in the season.

``We're going to be pretty boring,'' Zucker said. ``We've had so much go on and so much written about us, we just want to keep a low profile.''

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Shortstop Josh Fogel fields a ground ball for Saugus, which needs to rebuild its pitching staff next season.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News