SALEM, W.V. - The Mansfield Mountaineers baseball team (3-4) concluded their three-game series against the Salem University Tigers (6-3) with Monday's 8-6 loss.

The Mountaineers took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first off of an RBI fly out by Ryan Verbonitz. Ryan Scott was able to score from second on the fly ball after Jacob Houtz got himself in a pickle between first and second that allowed Scott to score.

Tyler Swineford got the start on the bump for the Mountaineers and he cruised through the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters in order. 

The Tigers answered with one of their own in the bottom of the fourth when they strung together base runners and scored off of a RBI single.

With the game tied at one, Salem exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-1 lead.

Salem got their first two off the inning off a two RBI single and put another runner on after a hit by pitch that knocked Swineford out of the game.

The Mountaineers brought in Luke Payne out of the bullpen to try and hold the Tigers there but Salem added three more with a homer to left.

Swineford ended his day with a final line of 4.1 innings, five runs on five hits, and two strikeouts.

Mansfield would battle back with their own five run inning in the seventh. All the Mountie runs came with two outs as Zachary Shertzer singled to score Jackson Halla and start the rally.

Verbonitz followed Shertzer with an RBI single of his own, this time bringing in two runs to cut the Tigers lead to two.

Freshman Cole Serfass finished off the inning mashing his first career home run to left-center to tie the game at six.

Salem was unrattled by the Mansfield flurry as they responded with two in the bottom of the seventh to retake the lead.

The Mounties couldn't find a second rally as they put only one runner on base across the final two innings and fell 8-6.

UP NEXT:

The Mountaineers travel to Cary, N.C. for the DII Challenge. Mansfield will play three games in three days with the first being against the Dominican University of New York on Friday, March 1. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.