NUTTER FORT, West Virginia - While the Salem baseball team was originally slated to take on Chowan on the road to open the season, dreary weather conditions down south canceled those plans. Fortunately, Salem was able to get their opening weekend of games at home against Shippensburg, who also had a weekend series canceled due to weather. While the scheduling break was lucky for the Tigers, the games were not quite so forgiving. The Tigers fell in all three contests, and they played out as follows:

Shippensburg 4, Salem 2

In the first game of the weekend on Friday afternoon, Salem got off to about as strong of a start as one can ask for. After falling behind by one in the top of the first, Collin Curry launched a home run over the left field wall that brought around Nathan Kuhn to put the Tigers up 2-1. Salem kept that advantage through the fourth inning thanks to strong pitching from starter Jaryd Lund. However, the Raiders would knot the game up in the 4th, and took a slim 4-2 in the 6th. Salem made a valiant effort to rally in the final 2 innings, but they fell in Game 1 of the series. 

Shippensburg 10, Salem 3

In the second game on Friday evening, the Tigers got off to another great start. A double from Luis Angarita and singles from Collin Curry and Tyler Shinn gave the Tigers 2 runs in the first inning. After the Raiders responded with a 3 run 3rd inning, Salem added a third run of their own in the 5th with a Kaiden Zacharias sacrifice fly that brought around Sam Schmitt. From there, a strong pitching performance from starter Frankie Gulko and Jhayden Raineri would keep the Tigers with a tight 3-3 headed into the final inning. However, the Raiders added 7 runs when the game went to the extra innings, and the Tigers fell 10-7 on Friday night. 

Shippensburg 2, Salem 1

On Saturday afternoon, the Tigers and the Raiders met for the final game of their three game series. Much like the first two games, Salem jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Kaiden Zacharias legged out a triple in the 2nd inning, and then made it to home off of a Brett Ehr ground out. The Raiders knotted up the game in the 4th, and Salem found themselves in a tight ball game the rest of the way. Alden Halfinger and Travis Lavendier kept the score level in the game from the mound, and we had extracurricular baseball for a second straight game. However, Salem would concede a run in the top of the 10th, and a late Salem rally attempt on the final frame came up short. Therefore, the Tigers fell to the Raiders after 10 innings 2-1. 

While this weekend games did not break the Tiger's way, Salem will have ample opportunity to get back on track on their own turf. Salem will be taking on local rivals Fairmont State on February 18th and 19th when they have back to back doubleheaders with the Falcons on the schedule.