NUTTER FORT, West Virginia - With a midweek win over the Pioneers, the Salem baseball team played host to the Trojans of Virginia State for a 4 game weekend series at Frank Loria Memorial Field in Nutter Fort. The Tigers also took the opportunity to celebrate the graduating team members with Senior Day festivities ahead of Sunday's matchups, and they celebrated with style as they beat the Trojans in all four weekend contests. Each game played out as follows:

Salem 8, Virginia State 4

For Game 1 on Saturday afternoon, the Tigers got off to a great start with 2 runs in the 2nd inning. The first came from a sacrifice bunt play executed by Ben Matos that brought in Nathan Kuhn. Then, an Aaron Forbos RBI single brought in Jacob Hurley to make it 2-0. The Trojans responded with 4 runs in the third, but Salem battled right back with an RBI single from Kaiden Zacharias and a 2 run home run blast from Tyler Shinn to take the lead right back. The Tigers got a few more insurance runs in the 6th off of a Hayes Lightsey single that brought in a pair and a Jose Lojo sacrifice fly to bring in Lightsey for the final run of the contest. On the bump, Jaryd Lund got the win with a complete game 7 strikeout performance. 

Salem 5, Virginia State 4

For Game 2, Salem got off to a tougher start than Game 1 with a Virginia State home run in the top of the first. However, they knotted it back up in the bottom of the first when Kaiden Zacharias made it home off of a Virginia State errant pitch that got past the Trojan catcher. Unfortunately, Virginia State ran out a 4-1 lead from there with runs in the 2nd and 6th innings. However, Salem uncorked a rally in the 6th. Ethyn Barnitz led off the comeback bid with a double that brought in Shinn and Zacharias to make it 4-3. Kevin Thomson knotted it up at 4-4 with a sacrifice fly to bring in Barnitz right after that. Aaron Forbes played the hero from there with a double that scored Brett Ehr, and gave Salem control of the game. In the top of the 7th, starter Sam Schmitt yielded pitching duties to Travis Lavendier, who came in for the save. Aaron Forbes played the hero again in the field this time. Forbes came up from third to snag a popped up Trojan bunt in the air, and then rifled the ball over to first for a spectacular double play. With Forbes' web gem play for the first two outs of the inning, Lavendier sealed the save and the win with a dramatic strikeout. Starter Sam Schmitt ended up with the win for his strong 6 innings of work with 5 strikeouts. 

Salem 3, Virginia State 1

After the Senior Day celebration on Sunday morning, Salem battled both their opponents and some wet conditions for Sunday's matchups. In Game 3 of the weekend, we saw a defensive battle in Nutter Fort. Salem took control in the first, when a Kaiden Zacharias single brought in Luis Angarita and a Trojan walk of Trey Hissam with the bases loaded brought in Miguel Bonilla, Jr.. They added one more from the bat of Luis Angarita in the 2nd to bring in Jose Lojo. Virginia State mounted a comeback bid in the 4th with a homer, but the Tigers held on for a 3-1 win. On the mound, starter Alden Halfinger got the win with 5 innings of work with 7 strikeouts while allowing just 2 Trojan hits. Keegan Oliver came in and pitched the final two frames for the save. Oliver struck out 3, and allowed just 1 hit. 

Salem 8, Virginia State 2

In the final contest of the weekend, Salem arguably uncorked their strongest offensive outing of the weekend. They led off with a Kaiden Zacharias double in the first to score Nathan Kuhn. 2 more runs came in the 4th when a Jose Lojo sacrifice bunt play scored Trey Hissam, and when Luis Angarita used a similar bunt play to reach on a fielder's choice that allowed Sam Schmitt to break home from third. The biggest inning of the day for the Tigers was the 5th. First, Salem showed their speed on the base paths when a Brett Ehr single scored Shinn and Zacharias. Then, Trey Hissam uncorked a triple to bring in Ehr and Barnitz, and Hissam then made it home when the Trojan defense bobbled the throw coming in from the outfield. With the big lead at this point, the Tigers relied on their defense and cruised to a 8-2 win to seal the 4 game sweep. From the mound, starter Tyler Sammons got the win with 5 strikeouts in 5 innings of work, and relievers Jhayden Raineri and Travis Lavendier sealed the victory with 1 solid innings each at the end of the game. 

Salem will be back in action one last time at Frank Loria Memorial Field this season when they match up with the Wheeling Cardinals in Nutter Fort on May 2nd at 2 PM.