Thu, May 31, 2018
04:00 PM @
Timberlane
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| Timberlane |
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Salem 2, Timberlane 1
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Thursday, May, 31
By Jeff Hamrick
DEVILS DOWN OWLS, ADVANCE TO QUARTERS
BY JEFF HAMRICK
sports@eagletribune.com
PLAISTOW — The Salem baseball squad once again earned its berth in the Division 1 quarterfinals. The Blue Devils now look to avoid the troubles associated with that round.
Scoring the winning run with two outs in the sixth, ninth-seeded Salem knocked off Timberlane 2-1 in the first round of the New Hampshire playoffs Thursday afternoon. The Devils (11-8) will play at top-seeded Bedford (19-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs, who dropped a 3-2 decision last week to Pinkerton, knocked off Salem 7-5 on May 5.
"We're just going to be in it the whole game," said second baseman Jake Emerson, who is part of a senior class that has lost in the quarters each year. "We have to play like a team and have each other's backs. I think, we really have a chance this year. We had the bases loaded a couple times (against Bedford), but we just couldn't get them in."
It was Emerson who had the key hit against Timberlane (10-9). After the Owls tied the game in the fifth, Matt Soldano started the winning rally with a walk and stolen base. Emerson, who had grounded out his previous two at bats, lashed a single to center, easily scoring the speedy Soldano.
"I was obviously just looking for something to drive," Emerson said. "(Timberlane pitcher Ryan Bourque) kept throwing them outside, so I was looking to hit the other way (in earlier at bats). But I just sort of topped it a couple times."
Soldano also used his legs to score Salem's first run, leading off the game with a walk. After advancing to second on a grounder, Soldano stole third and scored on a Brandon Wall ground ball.
"It was aggressive base running to get to third where a ground ball could get him in," Salem coach Dan Kelleher said. "It doesn't seem like much at the time, but it turns out to be key."
The Devils received solid defense with double-play grounders in the first and second while outfielders Trevor Deminico and Corey Cochran hauled in a pair of tough running grabs. Starting pitcher Andrew Shumski allowed two hits over three innings while Matt Bergeron struck out five and gained the win, throwing the final four.
Timberlane, which tied the score in the fifth when Christian Allaire's single drove in Lucas Harmon, had three double plays in support of Bourque, who went the distance, allowing only four hits in the loss.
'It was a great high school baseball game," said Timberlane coach Jamie Fish, whose team was held to one run or fewer for the ninth time. "You couldn't ask for a better played game on defense. There was wonderful pitching for both teams. They just did a little more on offense than we did. "We just couldn't scrape enough hits, and that's been our problem."
Kelleher isn't sure who he's sending to the mound against Bedford, but he hopes his squad can at least duplicate the nine-hit performance in the season's earlier match up to break the run of quarterfinal losses in each of the past four seasons.
"We never talk about (the losses)," said Kelleher, in his 22nd year at the Devils' helm. "But before (the current run) we hadn't lost a quarterfinal game ... We're going to see (Bedford's) best. We didn't see they're best before, but we saw some pretty good pitching from them and we didn't back down."
Game Statistics:
Division 1 First Round
Salem 2, Timberlane 1
Salem (2): Matt Soldano cf 1-2-0, Jake Emerson 2b 3-0-1, Brandon Wall c 3-0-1, Andrew Shumski p/1b 2-0-1, Jimmy Desmond cr 0-0-0, John Palardy 3b 3-0-1, Zack Morris ss 3-0-0, Corey Cochran rf 3-0-0, Paul Contarino dh 3-0-0, Brenen Jarzynicki 1b 0-0-0, Trevor Deminico lf 2-0-0. Totals 23-2-4
Timberlane (1): Christian Allaire ss 2-0-1, Connor Schott lf 2-0-0, Kyle Gleason cf 3-0-0, Ryan Borque p 3-0-0, Max Morasse 3b 3-0-1, Cam Sweet rf 3-0-0, Antonio Pallaria c 3-0-1, Bob Horgan 1b 2-0-1, Lucas Harmon cf 0-1-0, Dan Hayes cr 0-0-0, Donovan Kelley 2b 2-0-0, Cam Lovett ph 1-0-1. Totals 24-1-5
RBI: SALEM — Wall, Emerson; TIMBERLANE - Allaire
WP: Matt Bergeron. LP: Bourque (7,4,2,2,3,1)
Salem (11-8): 100 001 0 — 2
Timberlane (10-9): 000 010 0 — 1
