BY MATT STOUT

For weeks, the Salem baseball team clubbed its way through Class L without one of its best hitters.

Now, Matt Delaney is proving why he’s so vital to the Blue Devils’ high-powered lineup.

Delaney tripled home the winning run in Salem’s 4-3 comeback victory over Bishop Guertin on Thursday, May 17, before he added a three-run home run against Nashua North on Monday, May 21, helping lead Salem to a 7-1 win, its eighth straight.

Delaney, eased back into the lineup in recent weeks after breaking a bone in his hand during the preseason, reprised his role in the No. 3 hole. He hasn’t wasted his chances.

Against Guertin, he scored the team’s second run on an Evan Valcourt sacrifice fly during a two-run first inning, and he followed Ben Lawlor’s run-scoring double with a three-bagger that plated Lawlor for the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Starting pitcher Hal Landers did the rest, completing his seven-hitter with two strikeouts in the bottom half of the inning.

Landers finished with four punch-outs in total and overcame trouble in the second and the third to out-duel Windham native and Cornell University-bound Taylor Wood, who gave up four runs – three earned – on four hits while striking out nine. Wood also homered in the fifth.

Four days later, Delaney gave Salem a sizable lead against Nashua North, driving a pitch over the fence to score Dan Savastano and Landers for a 4-0 lead in the second.

Landers smacked a solo shot the inning prior, and Salem poured it on in the third. Valcourt raced home on a double steal to make it 5-0, Pete Allain doubled home Matt Hardy, and Landers followed with an RBI single to score Allain for the 7-0 lead. Landers finished the day 4-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Connor Nolan cruised through the majority of game, ceding just three hits and a run in the sixth while striking out six in the complete-game effort.