NUTTER FORT, West Virginia - The Tigers continued their homestand this afternoon against the Bobcats of West Virginia Wesleyan College. The Tigers came into this one after splitting a two-game series against the University of Findlay on March 11th.

GAME ONE

Sam Schmitt took the mound for the Tigers in game one of the afternoon and proved to be a problem for the Bobcat lineup early. After a scoreless top of the first Salem came into the bottom of the inning swinging. Nathan Kuhn was able to tack two on with a single that scored Brett Ehr and Tyler Shinn to open things up for Salem. Jacob Hurley came up after Kuhn and blasted one over the left field fence for a two-run bomb that made it a four-run inning for the Tigers. After Salem's offensive outburst, it remained smooth sailing for Schmitt into the second. He finally caught some trouble from Wesleyan in the top of the third when the Bobcats were able to cross home plate off of a Tiger error. Wesleyan continued to chip away with an RBI single that made it 4-2 Salem. After the Tiger's hot start, the bats seemed to run cold as the game progressed. Salem posted their second scoreless inning in a row leaving the door open for the Bobcats. Wesleyan took advantage in the top of the fourth with a three-run homer to take the lead at 5-4. Salem knotted things up in the bottom of the sixth when Jacob Barcikowski scored off of Jose Lojo's fielder choice. After that Brett Ehr grabbed the lead for Salem with a sac fly hit deep into the outfield that scored Luis Angarita from third and reclaimed Salem's lead at 6-5. Salem called upon Travis Lavendier once again to close out a close one at home, and yet again he delivered. Lavendier held the Bobcats scoreless in the sixth and seventh to help secure the Tiger win 6-5.

GAME TWO

For game two of the afternoon Salem sent out Frankie Gulko as their starting pitcher. Gulko was dominant against the Bobcats early, making quick work of them in the top of the first. Like they have done all season the Tiger bats got to work early. Tyler Shinn sent Jose Lojo across the dish in the first with a well-hit single to grab another early lead for Salem. As the game progressed Gulko had Wesleyan's number, but the Bobcats pitching staff seemed to have figured out the Tigers as well. After their first-inning run, the Tigers began a scoreless inning streak, keeping the pressure on their pitching staff to hold the 1-0 lead. In the fifth, the Tigers began to waver. Wesleyan snatched the lead from the Tigers with a two-RBI double to make it 2-1 Bobcats. Wesleyan tacked on some insurance when the following batter singled to score another runner, but was tagged out trying to stretch a single into a double. Heading into the bottom of the fifth it was 3-1 Wesleyan. The Tiger offense continued their cold streak after getting some traffic along the base path in the game's earlier innings. In the top of the sixth Gulko was able to produce another clean inning for his final of the afternoon before Richie Preston took over for the seventh. With six outs remaining in the ball game Wesleyan put one more run up for safety off of an RBI single. Down three with three outs remaining the Tigers were unable to cut into the deficit and walked away from this one with a 1-4 loss, splitting the series against Wesleyan 1-1.

The Tigers homestand comes to an end tomorrow afternoon when they conclude with a two-game series against Davis & Elkins at 1:00 and 3:00 PM.