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Manchester Central got a grand slam from Kyle Swetland in a 5-run seventh to take a 7-5 lead. But Timberlane scored three in the bottom of the frame for the 8-7 walkoff win. Cam Lovett reached on a 1-out pinch-hit single, Donovan Kelley walked and Christian Allaire reached on an error to load the bases. Connor Schott and Kyle Gleason followed with RBi walks and Allaire scored the winner on an infield error. 

Ryan Bourque provided Timberlane all it needed on the mound with a complete-game shutout with 10 Ks in a 2-0 win over Nashua South. And at the plate, Kyle Gleason hit a two-run double in the fifth to fuel the Owls' offense.

SALEM — On the off chance that fantasy baseball for high school is a thing in New Hampshire, Friday would have been the perfect day to have had Matt Bergeron in the lineup.

It sure turned out beneficial for Salem.

The Blue Devil senior did the job at the plate, blasting a monster three-run homer, but was even more dominant on the mound, shutting down visiting Timberlane on two hits while striking out eight in an 8-0 victory that put Salem back over the .500 mark.

"I'd tell people about the pitching first," said Bergeron when asked his day's highlight. "I'm more of a pitcher than a hitter, but I'd follow up on the hitting — it was like stomach high; a fastball. It looked like a balloon, and I put it out."

While the first homer of his career was massive, it provided the final runs of the afternoon and essentially was unnecessary simply because Begeron only required the first-inning run scored by lead-off hitter Matt Soldano.

Winning his third consecutive start, Bergeron surrendered infield singles in the second and fourth, stranding both at first. The right hander's control numbers were remarkable as 67 of his 79 pitches were in the strike zone. He threw two balls or more in only three innings and threw nothing but strikes in two others. Only one Owl hit the ball out of the infield — a fly to left in the sixth by Christian Allaire that Trevor Deminico ran down.

"I've always been known more for my control than my speed," said Bergeron, who shutout Bishop Guertin his previous start. "And my control was on today. I went with either a fastball up or a slider in the dirt (for the out pitch).

"After the first inning that went one-two-three, I knew that I was throwing strikes. I only threw five pitches in the first inning, and I knew my pitch count was going to be low."

Soldano put himself in position to score two of Salem's first three runs. A lead-off triple in the first and a single and two stolen bases in the third set up RBI ground outs for No. 2 hitter Jake Emerson. Corey Cochran scored a second-inning run on a passed ball before adding a sacrifice fly in the third. Soldano's third hit drove in Deminico in the fourth for a 5-0 lead.

The win capped off a hectic eight days that had Salem (7-6) playing five times. The Devils broke even the first four games against teams among the top five in the Division 1 standings.

"We have six games to go, and we feel confident with all six," Bergeron said. "We feel we're one of the best teams in the state. We competed against (undefeated) Bedford (Thursday) and it was a tough loss, but we have things to improve on."

Timberlane coach Jamie Fish wouldn't be surprised if the Devils close strong.

"In a nutshell, they just basically kicked the snot out of us," he said. "That's the best hitting team I've seen so far (this season)."

Behind two hits and two RBIs from Ryan Bourque, Timberlane handed Concord its second loss of the season, 5-1. 

Timberlane's Ryan Bourque and Kyle Gleason combined on the mound to one-hit Bishop Guertin, but walks, stolen bases and sacrifice flys allowed the Cardinals to come away with the 2-1, one-hit win. The Owls only mustered two hits, as BG starter Brett Anderson fanned 12.

Tied at seven in the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Bourque led off with a single, Cam Sweet was hit by a pitch and on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Max Morasse the ball was thrown into right field which allowed Timberlane to walk off with an 8-7 win.

Ryan Bourque did it all for Timberlane baseball. The junior pitched a complete, scorless game with eight strikeouts and also went 2 for 4 at the plate with three RBIs to lead the Owls to a 4-0 win over Winnacunnet.

According to Timberlane baseball coach Jamie Fish, senior Kyle Gleason "ran a country mile" to track down a fly ball in right field and made a diving catch to end the game and secure a 1-0 win over Pinkerton. The Astros had runners on first and third with two outs when Gleason made his dive. The Owls scored their lone run in the first, when Cam Sweet hit a rocket that bounced off an umpire and into left field and scored Christian Allaire.

Leading 5-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Timberlane baseball team allowed Dover to get the tying run to third base. But a groundout to short ended the inning, and Shane Johnson got the save in the seventh to give the Owls a 5-4 season-opeing win. Kyle Gleason drove in two with a bases-loaded single in a four-run second inning.