CARY, North Carolina- After a long offseason of preparation, the Salem Tigers baseball team started off their season down in the Tar Heel State. The Tigers would open the 2025 season with a three-game series against UNC Pembroke. Unfortunately, UNC Pembroke was able to take all three games in the weekend series over the Salem Tigers.
UNC Pembroke 13, Salem 4

For Game 1, Salem got on the board first taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning after Jacob Hurley hit a sac fly to right field where Hunter Rose would get the score. However, UNC Pembroke's hitting got rolling in the bottom of the 2nd as they would get 5 runs to grab a 5-1 lead as we headed into the 3rd inning. Luis Angarit would hit an RBI single in the top of the 3^rd where Joe Wintermu would score cutting the deficit to 2-5 for the Tigers. However, Pembroke would match that with another run in the bottom of the 3rd to get a 6-2 lead. In the 4^th inning, Joe Wintermu hit an RBI double where Jacob Hurley would score. UNC Pembroke still held a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 4^th. UNC Pembroke went onto have a massive 4^th inning scoring 7 runs and taking a commanding 13-3 lead. The Tigers would knock 1 more run in during the 7^th as Reese Rinna hit an RBI Single where Aidan McMurd scored. Unfortunately, UNC Pembroke's big 4^thinning was too much to overcome as they would take the first game by a score of 13-4.

For Game 2, the Tigers would strike first as Jose Lojo hit an RBI single where Joe Wintermu would score giving Salem a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3^rd inning. UNC Pembroke would match that score with a run of their own in the bottom of the 3^rd knotting the game up at 1. However, Salem struggled to get the hitting going for the rest of the game and UNC Pembroke would take advantage of that. UNC Pembroke would take complete control of the game shutting out Salem for the rest of the way and scoring 4 more runs. UNC Pembroke defeated Salem by a final score of 5-1.

For Game 3, Salem would start out another game scoring first as Aidan McMurd singled up the middle and Tyson Shumak scored giving the Tigers an early 1-0 lead in the top of the 3^rd. Unfortunately, UNC Pembroke got hot in the bottom of the 3^rd inning scoring 3 runs and taking a 3-1 lead. Reese Rinna hit the first homerun of the season for the Tigers in the bottom of the 5^th. UNC Pembroke was now up 3-2. UNC Pembroke would grab control the rest of the game scoring the next 6 runs to give them a 10-2 lead as we headed into the last inning. The Tigers would get on the board again in the 9^th as Alex Harper hit an RBI double as Hunter Rose would score. Once again the Tigers would score another run as Jose Logo hit a double down the line where Alex Harper score. However, it would be too late as UNC Pembroke would still take the 10-4 victory over the Tigers. 

After the tough opening weekend, the Salem Tigers will return home and prepare for their home opener. Which will occur on February 14th against Walsh University at 2 pm.