The Salem Wildcats dropped their regional preview with Mattoon on the road yesterday 12-11 in 8-innings. Salem trailed 4-1 after the opening inning, but tied it with 3 runs in the 3rd. Mattoon would grab a 6-4 lead with 2 in the 3rd. Salem would take an 8-6 lead after the top of the sixth, only to see the Green Wave answer with 3 in the bottom of the inning to take a 9-8 lead. In the seventh, Salem plated 3 more runs to give them an 11-9 edge heading to the bottom of the inning, but Mattoon wasn’t done and tied it up sending the game to extras where they would win on a walk off single.
The teams combined for 32 hits, 16 each, with the Salem defense making 4 errors leading to 7 unearned runs. At the plate for Salem, Ryan Detering doubled twice going 3-5 with 2 RBI, Rhett Detering, Jalen Inlow and Nate Paulson added doubles. Josh Powless drove in 2 runs with RBI also from Gavin Zimmermann, Aden Bass and Paulson. Zimmermann went 5.2 allowing 9 hits and 9 runs, only 2 earned. Colton Shelton took the loss in relief.
These two teams will square off a week from tomorrow in the Salem 3a regional semifinal. Salem has added a game to their schedule today as they will now travel to Centralia.
