It was a big weekend for the Salem Wildcats baseball team. Limping in after a week that saw them go 1-2, the Cats played their best baseball of the season as they beat visiting Class 4a Belleville West and the 4th ranked 3a team in the state, the Triad Knights.
Salem beat West who entered at 6-1, by a final score of 6-3. In the game, Noah Nix hit a long home run in the fifth inning; a 3-run shot that turned a tied game into a 6-3 lead for Salem. Gavin Zimmermann added an RBI and Cody Beard scored 3 runs. Rhett Detering was the winning pitcher going 6 innings allowing 4 hits and no earned runs with 7 strikeouts. Nix came in to get the save.
In the 2nd game, Salem beat the 4th ranked Knights 8-6. With the game tied at 3 in the third inning, Beard hit a home run to left scoring 3 runs and giving Salem an 8-6 lead. Triad would answer with single runs in the next three innings, with Salem adding an insurance run in the sixth. Colton Shelton was the winning pitcher going 5 innings and scattering 4 hits, Nix got his 2nd save of the day. Salem is 6-6 on the season and will travel to Freeburg tomorrow.
