SALEM, N.H. — Jamie Fish rolled the dice.
His junior right-hander Matt Faia gladly accepted the challenge and made the Timberlane coach look like a genius.
With the memory of the Owls' humbling 77-50 basketball tourney loss to the Blue Devils in the back of his mind, Faia perplexed Salem for six scoreless innings. He pitched the ninth-seeded Owls past the No. 8 Blue Devils, 4-1, yesterday in the Class L playoff opener.
"We played Salem in the basketball playoffs and got our bell rung," said Faia, who surprisingly got the nod over ace P.J. Singster. "They stomped us. Beating them here feels pretty good. I got goose bumps out there in the seventh inning."
The gamble yields huge dividends for the Owls, who can pitch Singster against No. 1 Trinity in tomorrow's (1:30 p.m.) quarterfinal at Gill Stadium.
"I guess I threw everybody a bit of a curveball today," said Fish. "Matt's pitched very well for us, and I just went with a bit of a gut feeling."
Faia, who improved to 5-2, mixed in a fastball, curve and screwball to keep the Salem hitters guessing. He allowed only five hits over six innings while striking out two. When Salem hit it hard, the errorless Owls made the plays.
Singster came on after Faia encountered his only real trouble of the day in the seventh, surrendering singles to Darren Brown and Josh Treff (RBI) and hitting Sam Fazioli in the back.
Singster put out the fire, inducing a pair of ground outs and a pop out to protect the Owls' first playoff win since the Class I finalist team in 1995.
Offensively, Timberlane swung it fast and loose, rapping 10 hits on the day. A Zach Fox infield hit scored an aggressive Matt Caiazzo from second base for a 1-0 lead, and Nick Mascioli drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 2-0 in the second. A Salem error and sacrifices from Singster and Caiazzo pushed the margin to 3-0, which was plenty for Faia.
Timberlane 4, Salem 1
Class L first round
Timberlane (4): Zach Fox cf 4-0-1, Matt Faia p/2b 4-0-2, Nick Mascioli ss 3-0-1, Cam Fagan 3b 4-1-1, Matt Sheehan c 3-1-1, Lucas Alper rf 3-0-1, P.J. Singster 2b/p 3-0-1, Matt Caiazzo lf 2-1-1 Jon Faia 1b 3-1-1, Totals 29-4-10
Salem (1): Jordan Estevez ss 4-0-0, Matt Gioia 2b 3-0-0, Josh Heil cf 3-0-2, Joe Morin dh 2-0-0, Jake Lambert p 0-0-0, Nick Poore p 0-0-0, Darren Brown rf 2-1-1, Sam Fazioli 1b 1-0-0, Josh Treff c 3-0-1, Shaun Yelle lf 3-0-0, C.J. DeMarco lf 3-0-1, Totals 24-1-5
Timberlane (11-10): 021 010 0 — 4
Salem (11-10): 000 000 1 — 1
RBI: T — Fagan, Mascioli, Singster, Caiazzo; S — Treff
WP: M. Faia; LP: Lambert
By the numbers
1995: Last year Timberlane won a state tourney game
0-4: Postseason record since 1995
2: How many times Timberlane has won more than eight games since 1996 (11-10 this year, 11-10 2004)
