SALEM, Mass -- Despite a five-run lead after the top of the first inning, and a 5-3 lead after one inning of play, the Buccaneers lost their series opener on Friday to Salem State on the road, 11-6.

The Basics

Final: Vikings 11, Buccaneers 6

Records: Maritime 16-13 (7-4)

               Salem 10-12 (6-5)

On the Mound

Maritime: Ben Zchau (L, 1-1): 3 IP | 9 H | 9 R | 9 ER | 2 BB | 1 K

Salem: Matt Walling (W, 1-0): 8 IP | 6 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 4 BB | 3 K

Inside The Numbers

Maritime

• Brett Velzis notched three hits in the game, and Michael Logiudice had two. Aaron Cole, AJ Pietrafesa, Colsen Loughren, Michael Estrada, and Aidan Weir all had one.
• Loughren drove in three runs in the game, Jake Houston knocked in two, and Pietrafesa had one RBI.
• Estrada scored twice in the game. Evan Vieira, Pietrafesa, Velzis, and Loughren scored one.
• Loughren hit a home run, Velzis had two doubles, and Estrada had a double to round out the Bucs extra-base hits.
• Logiudice and Damon White had stolen bases.

Salem

• Ethan Stepputtis, Michael Buccaro, and Yabdriel Gonzalez all had three hits in the win. Jake Boucher, Connor Dolan, and Owen Duggan all had two hits. Ryan Bourgeois and Dylan Adamson had one.
• Gonzalez drove in three runs, Adamson and Dolan added two RBI. Stepputtis, Buccaro, and Bourgeois had one.
• Dolan, Duggan, and Stepputtis all scored twice. Buccaro, Gonzalez, Bourgeois, and Adamson scored once.
• Dolan and Adamson hit home runs. Boucher and Buccaro had two doubles apiece, and Duggan had a double.

How It Happened

Maritime scored five runs in the top of the first to take, what they thought, was a commanding lead early. Pietrafesa singled in Vieira for the first run. Then, Loughren hit a three-run home run to make it a 4-0 game before Salem even grabbed their bats. Houston hit a sacrifice fly to score Estrada for the fifth run of the top of the first. In the bottom of the inning, Salem scored three times, all on RBI singles, to cut the Buccaneer lead to two runs, 5-3, after one.

The second and third innings were uneventful, and then the Vikings bats sparked in the bottom of the fourth inning, and they scored eight times. Included in the scoring frenzy were two-run home runs from Adamson and Dolan, and after four, the hosts led 11-3.

The Buccaneers scored a run in the top of the fifth on Houston's second sacrifice fly of the game to make the score 11-6. That was all the Buccaneers could get back as they dropped the Friday opener, 11-6.

What's Next

The Bucs and Vikings meet again on Saturday for a conference doubleheader in Buzzards Bay beginning at 1 pm.