CONCORD, West Virginia - After splitting Saturday's two-game matchup against Glenville Salem traveled north down I-79 for this afternoon's doubleheader against the Concord Mountain Lions.
GAME ONE
After going scoreless in the first inning of their most recent game the Tigers got back into rhythm and struck first like they have done all season. The Tigers tacked two on the board in the top of the first inning. Tyler Shinn brought Jose Lojo back to home plate off of a sacrifice groundout for the Tiger's initial run. Brett Ehr followed that up with a sac fly deep into the outfield to score Luis Angarita and make it 2-0 Tigers. It was Frankie Gulko out on the bump for the Tigers today, and he was cruising early. Gulko posted back-to-back shutout innings for Salem to keep momentum in their favor. The Tigers began to pad their lead in the third. Aaron Forbes sent a double into left field that sent Jacob Hurley around third base and headed for home. After Forbes RBI he was sent across the dish by Aidan McMurdo's single to make it 4-0 Salem. The Mountain Lions finally got one in the fourth off of a solo shot home run which would be Gulko's first allowed run of the afternoon. The two teams remained deadlocked heading into the bottom of the sixth with just nine outs remaining in the game. Concord cut into the deficit again, this time with a sac fly to get the Mountain Lions within two. With two runners on Concord took the lead later in the inning with a three-run bomb to make it 5-4 Concord. The Salem bats tried to make up the difference in the top of the seventh, but they came up short, ending this one 4-5 in the Mountain Lion's favor.
GAME TWO
The Tigers seemed to take the tough loss personally. Salem put up a nine spot in the top of the first inning for game two. Salem singled and doubled the Mountain Lions to death and took advantage of some Concord mistakes to put up the big inning and jump out to a commanding lead. Jaryd Lund came out as the starter for Salem in the bottom half of the inning and looked very comfortable with his nine-run cushion. With a lead that large Lund was able to be aggressive in the way he attacked opposing batters leading him to seven strikeouts on six innings of work for the afternoon. Salem pushed their lead to double digits in the top of the sixth when Angarita scored thanks to Hunter Rose's well-hit ball that landed everybody safe and kept the bases loaded making it 10-0 Tigers. Concord put up their lone run of game two on a solo shot off Lund in the sixth to get the Tiger lead back to single digits with the game dwindling to a close. The Tigers struck two more times for good measure in the top of the seventh. The first came courtesy of an Alex Harper double that sent Forbes rounding third and heading for home where he would safely reach. Salem's final run was scored by Max Atkinson who tagged up off a sac fly from Angarita and ballooned Salem's lead up to eleven runs. Salem sent in Travis Lavendier to close things out for the Tigers. Lavendier delivered, going 1-2-3 and closing out a Tiger road win.
Salem will be back on their home field on March 29th for a doubleheader against the University of Charleston at 1:00 and 3:00 PM.
