WEST CHESTER, Pennsylvania - After taking 4 out of 5 against that old familiar foe in Bluefield State, the Salem Baseball team headed up to the state of Pennsylvania to take on the Rams of West Chester University. Dodging rain showers for much of the weekend, Salem got three games in against the Rams, and won the first 2. All three contests played out as follows:

Salem 9, West Chester 8

For Game 1, Salem fell behind early, but rallied with a 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings. It started in the 3rd when Ben Matos singled to bring in Trey Hissam for the first Tiger run of the game. Ethyn Barnitz scored shortly thereafter on a Rams wild pitch to tie the game at 2. Kaiden Zacharias then put the Tigers in the driver's seat with a RBI single. In the fourth, Ben Matos uncorked another RBI single to make it 4-2 in the fourth inning. In the 5th, Salem really took control of the contest when Sam Schmitt came up big with a 3 run triple to put the Tigers up 7-2. The Rams did not go away quietly however, and they added 2 more in the 6th. In the 7th, Salem added their final runs of the contest off of a Try Hissam RBI single, and a Rams throwing error that brought in Jose Lojo. From there, the Tigers held off a furious Rams rally in the final inning to take Game 1 at 9-8. On the pitcher's mound, Salem benefitted from another strong performance from starter Jaryd Lund, who struck out 5 Rams in the first 5 innings. Reliveres Keegan Oliver and Zack Kendall held off the West Chester rally in the final two innings, and Lund went away with his third win of the season.

Salem 7, West Chester 6

In Game 2, The Tigers took early control in the 2nd when Nathan Kuhn scored on a Trey Hissam groundout. West Chester battled back to knot the game up at 1-1, but Salem opened the contest up in the 3rd. The Tigers got RBI singles from Kaiden Zacharias and Jacob Hurley to make it 4-1, and Zacharias added another RBI single in the 5th to make it 5-1. Unfortunately, the Rams battled right back to make it 5-5. Salem got the final edge they needed in the 6th from a Brett Ehr double to drive in the final 2 Tigers runs of the game. West Chester added one more run in the 8th, but the Tigers held on for the 7-6 win. On the pitcher's mound, starter Sam Schmitt got the win for the Tigers, and Jhayden Raineri came in for the final 2 innings of the contest to earn the save for Salem. 

West Chester 32, Salem 3

Despite the success of Friday evening, Saturday's final game of the series was simply going to go the Tigers way. The Rams quickly jumped out to an early lead, and seemingly scored at will. The Tigers added 2 in the 4th with a Nathan Kuhn groundout to score Brett Ehr, and a Sam Schmitt single to bring in Jacob Hurley. The final Tiger run of the game came in the 8th when a Kevin Thomson sacrifice fly brought in Luis Angarita. Unfortunately, those small rallies were not enough to secure the third win of the weekend for the Tigers. 

While the final game of the series did not go the Tigers way, Salem did get two wins, and will be looking for another in their next contest. That matchup is set for back at home with the Tigers taking on West Virginia State at 3 PM on April 4th.