Baseball Recap: Salem Finds Playoff Glory Versus Effingham

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Previous Games

05/31/25 - Neutral	8-2 W
04/01/25 - Home	6-8 L
05/25/24 - Away	7-2 W
05/17/17 - Home	6-7 L
05/17/17 - Home	0-1 L
+ 4 more games

It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Salem had no problem doing just that on Saturday. They were the clear victors by an 8-2 margin over the Effingham Hearts. This was a revenge game for the Wildcats: when they faced off against the Hearts back in April, they had to take a 8-6 defeat.

Rhett Detering made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out eight batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits. Detering was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one home run and two RBI.

In other batting news, Noah Nix and Jalen Inlow did most of the damage at the plate: Nix went 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI, while Inlow went 2-for-3 with two RBI, one run, and one double. That's the most RBI Inlow has posted since back in April. Another player making a difference was Cooper Lobek, who went 3-for-4 with three runs.

Salem lost a few balls and finished the game with two home runs. That's the most home runs they've managed all season.

Salem has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches. That's provided a massive bump to their 16-14 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.5 runs on average over those games. As for Effingham, their loss dropped their record down to 21-12.

As of now, neither Salem nor the Hearts have any future games scheduled.