DAHLONEGA, Georgia - Fresh off their sweep of West Virginia Wesleyan that included likely their shortest road trip of the season, the Salem baseball team headed down to Dahlonega, Georgia for their longest road trip of the season. The Tigers matched up with the Nighthawks for 3 games played over two days, and Salem came away with a win in one of those three contests. All three played out as follows:

North Georgia 5, Salem 0

For Game 1 on Friday night, the Tigers had a tough time offensively as they netted just 1 hit in the contest. However, the Tigers kept it close with a strong performance on the mound from starter Jaryd Lund and reliever Keegan Oliver, who combined for 6 strikeouts in the contest. 

Salem 8, North Georgia 6

For Game 2, Salem got off to a great start with RBI singles from Aaron Forbes and Tyler Shinn, and a sacrifice fly from Jacob Hurley made it 3-0 in the first inning. The Nighthawks battled back with 2 of their own in the bottom of the first. Luis Angarita added to the Salem lead in the 4th with another RBI single for the Tigers. However, yet again, North Georgia took the lead with a rally in the 5th inning. So Salem had to respond with a rally of their own in the 6th. Forbes and Angarita each singled to bring around 3 runs for the Tigers, and Salem controlled the contest again at 7-6. They added icing on top of the cake with one last insurance run in the 8th when a bunt single from Jose Lojo allowed Ben Matos to score for the final run of the contest. On the pitcher's mound, Salem got a solid day from all three pitchers. Starter Sam Schmitt and relievers Travis Lavendier and Keegan Oliver combined for 7 strikeouts. Lavendier got credit for the win for his three innings of work to protect the Salem 6th inning rally, and Keegan Oliver pitched the final inning of the contest to earn the save.

North Georgia 11, Salem 5

For the final game of the series, the Tigers fell behind early, but battled back in the 3rd. RBI singles from Luis Angarita and Brett Ehr got the ball rolling for the Tigers in the third. In the 5th, Salem got another RBI single from Angarita, and followed that up with a Jose Lojo scoring off of a Nighthawk throwing error. Brett Ehr then dropped down a sacrifice bunt that scored Angarita, and Salem had a 5-2 lead. However, North Georgia added a comeback bid in the 5th and 8th innings, and Salem fell by a score of 11-5.

The Salem baseball program will make the long journey back to West Virginia this weekend to prepare for back to back road contests this week against local rivals. They are set to take on Alderson Broaddus in Philippi on Tuesday, April 18th at 3 PM and then they head over to Elkins to take on the Davis & Elkins Senators on Wednesday, April 19th at 2 PM.