Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
LORAIN, Ohio -- The Notre Dame Falcons edged Salem International in a pair of tight games at the Pipeyard on Saturday afternoon, taking game one, 5-3, and came back to win the finale, 4-3. 

The sweep for the Falcons (13-20) gives them a three game winning streak, tying their longest streak of the season. The losses for the Tigers (9-27) extended their losing streak to six. 

Game One

Early on pitching dominated the first contest, as both teams posted goose eggs for the first four innings of the contest.  Notre Dame snapped a scoreless tie in the home half of the fifth inning with a trio of runs.

NDC scored three times on four hits, and did a lot of their damage with two outs.  With the bases loaded and one away, Jon Koepf drove in Jesse Carrier on a sacrifice fly to give NDC the 1-0 advantage.  Moments later, Jesse Bartle delivered a clutch, two-out double to the gap in left center, scoring Pat Ross and Jarlys Mejia in the process.

The Tigers were able to get on the board with a single run in the top of the sixth inning, but Notre Dame answered with a pair of big insurance runs in the home half of the sixth.  They did all of their damage with two outs.  The Falcons had two on with two out, when Ross drilled a two-run triple center field.

SIU didn't go away quietly, pushing two across in the top of the seventh. Emmanuel Dominguez crushed a two-run double to left, and the Tigers had the tying runs aboard, when Bryan Pyper struck out Emilio Lollio to secure the victory.

Tanner Scott (3-4) pitched extremely well for the Falcons, fanning 10 batters over 5.1 strong innings of action.  He allowed just a run on three hits and came away with the victory.  Pyper surrendered a pair of runs on two hits over 1.2 innings of work to earn the save.

Game Two

The Tigers jumped ahead in the top of the first inning.  Dayan Lopez started the game with a base hit, and eventually came around to score the first run of the contest on a groundout.  Later in the inning, Joseph Rufo reached on a fielder's choice which allowed Jack Humphrey to score, giving the Tigers an early 2-0 lead.

NDC cut the deficit in half with a single run in the bottom of the second.  Jared Clovis began the inning by reaching on a throwing error.  Clovis made his way to second on the error as well, then moved to third after Kevin Bernay flew out to center field.  Moments later, Clovis scored on Shane DeFranco's groundout. 

The Tigers added another run in the top of the fifth inning, before the Falcons put up a three spot in the home half of the fifth to take the lead.  Bernay brought in the first run of the inning on a run scoring single.  With the bases loaded and two out, Keifer Quick scored the game tying run on a wild pitch, and on the play, SIU catcher Emmanuel Dominguez's attempt to throw Quick out at the plate shot past the dish and stopped on the infield grass, allowing Bernay to score on the play as well, giving NDC a 4-3 advantage.

The big inning lifted the Falcons, as the combination of Kevin Beduhn (2-2) and Tyler DeCrapio (2) retired the next six batters of the game to seal the deal.  Beduhn tossed 1.2 innings in relief to score the victory, allowing no runs or hits while fanning two.  DeCrapio tossed a perfect seventh inning to score the save.

Leading the way offensively for the Falcons were a pair of seniors, Bartle and Ross.  Both had three hits on the day, while Ross reached safely five times on the afternoon, and Bartle went 3-for-5 with a run and a pair of runs batted in.

The Falcons are in action again on Sunday, April 14, as they finish their four game series against the Tigers at the Pipeyard in Lorain, Ohio.  Game one of the twin bill is schedule for a 1 p.m. start.