NUTTER FORT, West Virginia - Salem continued another extensive homestand Saturday afternoon to kick off a two-day four-game doubleheader between the Tigers and the Fairmont State Falcons.

SATURDAY

Game One

Salem sent out Sam Schmitt, who recently won USCAA Player of the Week, to get things underway for the first game of the afternoon. Schmitt allowed one base runner before retiring the final two batters of the inning to hand the baton over to the lineup. The Tiger's lineup struggled against the Falcon's starter early, Salem was unable to work deep into counts and struggled to create traffic on the base paths. Fairmont struck first in the top of the second with a two-run homer off of Schmitt to grab the early lead. After giving up the lead Schmitt settled back into his groove and got the Tigers out of the inning. As the game progressed it turned into a real pitcher's duel. Through the following five innings, the two pitching staffs would allow a combined five hits between them. Schmitt completed the game for the Tigers with no more runs allowed, but the offense wasn't able to provide any run support and Salem dropped the first of this four-game series 2-0.

Game Two

This time around Salem looked to Frankie Gulko to represent the Tigers on the mound to finish out the afternoon. Gulko gave up a solo shot in the top of the first to give the Falcons another early lead before getting out of the top half without allowing any more damage. After game one's poor offensive performance, the Tigers seemed to flip a switch heading into game two. Salem responded to the Falcons quickly with a two-run dinger from Mackenzie Wainwright that scored Jose Lojo to take Salem's first lead of the day. Salem tagged on some insurance in the bottom of the second. Max Atkinson brought home the first run of the inning with a sac fly that scored Hunter Rose from third, and Jose Lojo bumped the Tiger lead up to three with an RBI single that scored Andrew Leginze. The Falcons brought it within one in the third with a two-RBI double, but the Tigers held them there. Gulko continued his outing through the fifth and kept the lead for Salem before handing things over to Conor Thiele for the sixth. Thiele worked through a jam and delivered another scoreless frame for the Tigers before passing the ball to Salem's final pitcher of the afternoon, Jhadyen Raineri. Raineri came in and delivered to finish off a 4-3 Tiger victory to even the series heading into Sunday.

SUNDAY

Game One

After a Saturday split, Salem looked to take the series lead Sunday afternoon, and they looked to Travis Lavendier to get the ball rolling. Lavendier delivered the Tigers a scoreless top half of the opening frame and sent the Tiger lineup to the plate. Salem capitalized early. Mackenzie Wainwright sent Jose Lojo across home from third with a sac fly to give the Tigers the early advantage. The Falcons responded immediately with a solo shot early in the second to even things up. Salem got out of the top half without allowing any more runs, and they tacked on three more for insurance in the bottom half. Wainwright came through with another RBI, this one from a bases-loaded single that scored Aidan McMurdo. The Tigers were gifted another run in the following at-bat when Luis Angarita was hit by a pitch to send Brett Ehr across home. Salem capped things off with another run scored by Lojo who was sent home on a sac fly from Tyler Shinn. Lavendier gave up a run to the Falcons in the top half of the fourth due to a bases-loaded balk, but he got out of the rest of the inning clean. He then delivered a clean fifth to wrap up his afternoon. Salem tacked one more on in the bottom half of the inning off an RBI single from Jacob Hurley that scored Nathan Kuhn to make it 5-2 Tigers. Jhayden Raineri took over in the sixth for the Tigers and put up another empty frame. McMurdo got things started in the bottom half in wild fashion with an inside-the-park home run that made it past the glove of a diving outfielder and rolled all the way back to the fence.  Later in the inning, Ehr took home plate on a wild pitch to make it 7-2. The Tigers capped the inning with a sac fly from Shinn into left field that scored Wainwright to give the Tigers a six-run cushion heading into the final inning of play. Raineri struggled with his control in the seventh, he walked four straight to score a run for the Falcons and got just one out before being replaced by Andrew Leginze who gave up one more to the Falcons off a sac fly before ending the game with an 8-4 Salem win.

Game Two

For the final game of the series skipper, Kassidy Gaines handed the ball over to Jaryd Lund. He was able to get through the top of the inning with no runs allowed and give the Tigers another opportunity to grab an early lead. Tyler Shinn took advantage with a two-run dinger over the right field wall to score Luis Angarita and give the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the game's opening frame. After another scoreless inning for the Falcons, Salem pumped up their lead to 3-0 when Hunter Rose stole third and advanced home on an error from Fairmont State. The Falcons brought it within two with an RBI single in the fourth which ended Lund's day and brought in Colby Scheuber, but the Tigers got the run back immediately after with an RBI single from Mackenzie Wainwright that scored Aidan McMurdo. Fairmont made a bid at a comeback in the sixth inning with a run scored from a sac fly and two more from a homerun to tie things up at 4-4, but Salem ended the inning without surrendering the lead. Salem had an opportunity to score in the sixth and reclaim the lead with runners on second and third with one out, but the Tigers couldn't get a man across and the game remained tied. Conor Thiele took over to start the seventh and was not able to find success against the Falcons. Fairmont came through with four hits resulting in two runs to take a 6-4 lead in the top half of the seventh before Zack Kendall was able to come in and stop the bleeding, giving Salem a chance to win it in walk-off fashion. Jacob Hurley made it a one-run game with an RBI double to score Angarita. Jacob Barcikowski came in to pinch run for Hurley who had already done his job. Aidan McMurdo followed up with a hard-hit single to send Barcikowski rounding third and heading for home to tie it up 6-6. Next up to the plate was Max Atkinson. Atkinson roped a double to the wall in the left-center gap to score McMurdo and win it for the Tigers with a walk-off.

Salem will head into another four-game series against West Liberty in West Liberty, WV April 13th and 14th.