The Salem Wildcats fell to 2-8 on the baseball season with a pair of losses at Triad on Saturday. Salem opened with an 11-5 loss to Belleville West. The Cats were outhit 23-7 in the game. Aden Susmena led Salem going 2-3 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Griffin Day had 2 hits and drove in a run along with Blane Phillips. Griffin Day took the loss going 4 innings allowing 14 hits and 6 earned runs.
Salem then dropped the 2nd game to Triad 9-2. Salem trailed just 3-2 through 4.5 innings but Triad scored 4 in the fifth to earn the win. Isaak Williams had the only Salem hit and drove in the only run scoring Nick Gregg who reached on a walk. Gregg worked all 6 innings on the mound allowing 14 hits and 3 earned runs.
The Salem Wildcats JV also dropped a pair on Saturday. Salem fell to Triad 15-1 in the opening game. The Knights led 4-0 when they scored 8 times in the 4th to pull away. Salem got a double from Noah Nix as part of their 4 hits. Aden Bass drove in the only Salem run scoring the courtesy runner Deytin Parker.
The JV then dropped an absolute heartbreaker to Belleville West. The Cats trailed 1-0 when they scored 4 runs in the 3rd and 10 more in the fourth to give Salem a 14-4 lead through 5 innings. Belleville West would bounce back and scored 2 in the fourth, 3 more in the 5th and then 9 in the sixth to beat Salem 18-14. Nix finished 2-3 with 4 RBI, Bass drove in 3, Jalen Inlow and Ayden Rose had 2 each with RBI also from Colten Starnes and Nathan Paulson. Nix was good for Salem going 3.2 innings allowing 8 hits and 5 earned runs with 6 strikeouts.
