Salem High is off for spring break next week but the Spartan baseball team will be in action. The defending Class 4 state champs will be playing a home-and-home series with Greenbrier East of West Virginia.

The Spartans will host Greenbrier on Wednesday, April 24, at Kiwanis Field. Then, two days later, Salem will return the trip to West Virginia for another non-district game.

The Spartans will take an 11-3 record into the games against Greenbrier after winning three of four in the past week, including a sweep of William Fleming at Kiwanis Field. That was April 10 as Salem took a 2-0 win in the first game and 9-1victory in the nightcap.
Junior lefty Lance Price got his first start on the mound this season in the opener and pitched a two-hit shutout against the Colonels. Lance struck out five in the win and Parker Stallard had two hits against a much-improved Fleming team.

In the second game Trevor Gallagher got the win and Jack Hudson pitched two and two-thirds innings of no hit relief for Salem. Freshman Hunter King had two hits and drove in two runs and Stallard had two more hits, a double and a triple.

A night later Salem hosted Patrick Henry and won in six innings, 12-2. Caleb Lingenfelter improved his mound record to 3-0 with a complete game win, fanning six Patriots. Zac Honaker was three-for-four with three runs batted in and Zion Honaker had two hits, as the Honaker brothers had five of Salem’s 11 total hits. Michael Morrison had two hits and drove in a run.

On Tuesday the Spartans hosted Christiansburg at Kiwanis Field and ran into a hot Brady Kirtner. The Blue Demons’ ace struck out 12 Spartans in a 4-1 win for the visitors in eight innings.

“He was hitting 92 on the gun,” said Salem coach Wes McMillan. “He’s a good pitcher. There were scouts there to watch him.”

Errors hurt the Spartans, who let a 1-0 lead slip away before giving up three unearned runs in the top of the eighth. Hunter Tenson took the loss in relief of Zion Honaker, who allowed just three hits over the first six innings.

“We had our chances,” said McMillans. “We made too many miscues in the field. Zion pitched a good game and deserved better.”