NUTTER FORT, West Virginia - In yet another home series to open up their season, the Salem baseball team played host to the Mercyhurst Lakers for a set of three games played on Sunday and Monday. Those games played out as follows:

Mercyhurst 4, Salem 2

In Game 1 played on Sunday afternoon, Salem made the first marks on the scoreboard in the 5th inning. Luis Angarita singled to bring in Hayes Lightsey and Trey Hissam, and the Tigers had control of the game. A strong pitching performance from Travis Lavendier and Sam Schmitt kept the Tigers in control through the 7th inning. However, 4 runs in the final frame for the Lakers pushed the game towards Mercyhurst, and the Tigers could not muster a rally in the bottom of the 7th. Therefore, Mercyhurst took Game 1 4-2.

Mercyhurst 4, Salem 0

For Game 2, we saw a pitcher's duel for the majority of the contest as Keegan Oliver got the start for the Tigers, and controlled the game for the first 6 innings. After the 7th inning, the game remained in a 0-0 draw, so the game entered extra innings. However, the Lakers added 4 runs in the 9th inning, and the Tigers could not muster a rally in the bottom of the 9th to end the game at 4-0 favoring the Lakers. 

Mercyhurst 9, Salem 8 

For Game 3, we saw much more offensive firepower on display than either previous contest. For the Tigers, it started in response to 2 Lakers runs in the top of the first. Salem added 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st. They started off with a Ben Matos single that brought in Luis Angarita and Nathan Kuhn. Kaiden Zacharias then scored on the next play when Jacob Hurley grounded out into a double play. Hurley would then bat in the next 2 Tiger's runs with an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning. Mercyhurst rallied in response in the 5th, but Salem responded in a familiar way for the bottom of the 5th. Jacob Hurley brought in one more run to knot the game up at 6-6 with an RBI single. The Tigers then took control of the game in the 7th. Tyler Shinn added an RBI pinch hit single to start the scoring, and Miguel Bonilla, Jr. doubled right after to bring around Jose Lojo, who pinch ran for Shinn. Unfortunately, Salem would not be able to hang onto that lead as the Lakers added runs in the 8th and 9th innings to make it 9-8. Much like the first two contests, Salem was unable to string together a comeback bid in the final frame, and fell in the last game of the series. 

While this series did not go the Tigers way, Salem will be right back in action tomorrow and looking for a win when they head to Glenville State for a lone 9 inning game on March 7th at 1 PM.