RallyNorth.net

Poore, Salem push to title game

Wednesday, June, 09 By Hector Longo

Salem knows it, Class L knows it. Shaun Yelle knows it.

And again last night, the Blue Devils force-fed Nashua North the lesson.

All Nick Poore needs is a little.

"He doesn't need much," said Yelle, the Salem senior who doubled and scored the first run and plated the second with a clutch RBI single in the seventh. "Usually, it's two or three and Nick does the rest. I guess only two was a bit risky, but we got it done."

Yelle's two safeties and a pair by Joe Morin were all the offense Salem could muster against the North duo of Kyle Turner and Alek Morency.

The Boston College recruit Poore read a familiar script, breathing life into the Titans by allowing a run in the first then slamming the lid tight with spotless work the rest of the way.

"He did it against Goffstown and he did it against Exeter," said Salem coach Dan Kelleher, noting the talented southpaws maturity as the key. "Nick just digs in and shows his mental toughness. He's been put in these situations all year and just battled his way out of them."

Poore moved to 8-2, helping his team to the championship date and a season mark of 15-7.

"My catcher (Josh Treff) came out to talk to me, and he just really calms me down," said Poore, who struck out nine and walked two in the three-hitter. "I knew they were a good lineup and they'd be aggressive, so I just tried to mix it up a little more. Josh does a great job calling the game, and I just go with what he calls."

The Titans struck first, piecing doubles by Anthony Guidice and Alek Morency together.

Salem knotted it in the third when Yelle broke the ice with a double, moved up on a selfless Matt Gioia groundout to third and trotted home on Matt Loguidice's sacrifice fly to deep right.

From there, the pitchers took over with Poore allowing just one hit the rest of the way.

Poore got a huge lift in the sixth from Gioia, who stabbed a would-be RBI line-drive to squelch the bid, setting up Yelle's heroics in the seventh.

Sam Fazioli worked the leadoff walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Brendan Dunn, who easily swiped second.

Enter Yelle, the delivery man.

"I was just looking for a fastball to hit," said Yelle, who laced a sharp hit to chase Dunn home. "(Morency) is a tough pitcher, but I've had some success off of him. That felt great."

Poore punctuated the job with three more strikeouts in the ninth to solidify the Saturday night date.