Salem played two games this week and won both.15-0 vs conference foe Hoxie at home. 8-5 vs non-conference ICC Salem vs Hoxie Highlights March 28Senior Matt Guffey started on the mound and walked the first hitter of the contest after getting ahead0-2 (zero balls, 2 strikes).Guffey didn’t allow another hitter to reach base the rest of the game. This was Guffey’s first no-hitter in high school. He struck out8 Hoxie Mustangs. The Greyhound offense started fast and held pace scoring 8 runs in the first inning. Sophomore Caleb Leisenring led the Hounds off with a leadoff walk and Senior Dakota Jackson fol-lowed him up with his first high school homerun deep over the left field fence to put the Hounds up 2-0.Later in the first Junior Kyler Willett’s single through the middle plated Matt Guffey and fellow senior Hank Guiltner to make it 4-0 Greyhounds. Sophomore Blake Ingram later scored on a throwing error to make it 5-0. Owen Guffey was able to walk in from 3rd when the Hoxie catcher over threw his target on a stealing Kaiden Hollis (sophomore) at second base. That made it6-0 Hounds and brought up Caleb Leisenring at the leadoff spot again. Leisenring collected an in field single that drove in Hollis from 3rd base to make it7-0. That brought Jackson back up for his second at bat of the inning. Leisenring stole second base and was promptly driven in for the second time in the inning by a Jackson single for Jackson’s 3rd RBI of the inning. Hoxie would catch Jackson stealing to finally put an end to the bottom of the first. The Hounds went quietly with only a Blake Ingram(sophomore) single in the2nd, but the offense got hot again in the bottom of the 3rd. Sophomore Owen Guffey started the offense by drawing a leadoff walk. He was followed by an in-field single from Freshman Dylan Gaskins to give the Hounds 1st and 2nd for 9hole hitter Kaiden Hollis. Hollis delivered a blistered single into centerfield to plate Guffey and move Gaskins to 3rd. Hollis stole second base on the next pitch to make 2nd and 3rdfor lead off hitter Leisenring. Leisenring smoked a line drive up the middle that was snagged by the Hoxie shortstop who was able to beat Hollis back to the bag and double him off. What appeared to be a promising inning changed very quickly, but with Gaskins still at third and the smoking hot Jackson at the plate, the Hounds weren’t quite done. Jackson delivered his 3rd hit of the day and 4th RBI with a sizzling line drive into centerfield to make it 10-0 Salem and end the scoring in the 3rdfor the Hounds. Hank Guiltner led the Hounds off in the bottom of the 4th with a ripped double down the left field line to start another very productive inning for the home team. Freshman Kamden Turner followed Guiltner’s double with a walk. The pair each stole second and third to set up Freshman Jackson Taylor who produced a 2 RBI single into right field to make the score 12-0. Two batter later Senior Jordan Foerster came to the plate for only his 2nd at bat of the season and smacked a double into left center field to drive in runs 13 and 14 for the Hounds. On the next pitch, Ryan Dailey would tally the final score and put the mercy rule in affect on a wild pitch. Final score Salem 15-Hoxie 0.Matt Guffey-CG, No hitter, 8 k’s, 1 BB-1/2, R, BB,2 SB Kaiden Hollis-2/2, RBI,R, 2 SB Dakota Jackson-3/3,HR, 4 RBI, R, Salem at ICC High-lights March 29The Greyhounds started off the game against ICC this past Wednesday where they left off against Hoxie the night before: red hot! Sophomore Caleb Leisenring led the game of with a line drive single into left center field. Leisenring stole second on the next pitch and 3rd on the pitch after. The throw to 3rdgot away into left field allowing Leisenring to score5 pitches into the contest. Senior Dakota Jackson followed Leisenring with a walk and steal of second. He was then driven in by Senior Matt Guffey’s 6thextra base hit of the year as he drove a deep fly ball over the left fielder’s head for a double. Following a lineout from cleanup hitter Senior Hank Guiltner, Guffey was able to swipe3rd before being driven in by an infield single from Sophomore Kaiden Hollis. Hollis’ put the ground ballin the 6 hole and showed his superb speed from the left handed batter’s box, barely beating out the throw. The Hounds would go on to load the bases with one out but catch some bad luck when Freshman Ryan Dailey smoked a two hopper the ICC shortstop was just able to get gloved taking him to the bag for a very easy double play to end the top of the 1st with the Hounds up 3-0.Guiltner started on the mound for the Hounds and served up K’s to the Cougars in the bottom half of the first striking out the side on 15 pitches. Salem went quiet in the2nd going 3 up and 3 down to send it to the bottom where the Cougars would make a little noise of their own. Guiltner’s control waned to begin the second surrendering two consecutive walks to start the inning. The walks were followed by a ground out that advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out. Guiltner then worked his way to strikeout against the 7 hole ICC shortstop and it looked as if the Hounds might be able to work around the walks. However, control slipped again and a third walk was issued to load the bases with two outs. Facing the6th batter of the inning and the ICC 9 hole, Guiltner was able to get a routine ground ball to third base-man Sophomore Owen Guffey. Guffey scooped it up but his throw was just wide off the glove of first baseman Freshman Dylan Gaskins who got his first high school start in the game. The Hounds missed going to the dugout up 3-0by about an inch and instead, the Cougars were able to plate 3 runs on the very rare 3 run error. Guiltner ended the threat two pitches later though with a ground ball to Guffey who casually threw a dime across to get the Hounds off the field. The Hounds struck again in the 3rd. Guffey fell behind 1-2 to lead off but showed how intelligent and committed of a player he is by allowing a1-2 pitch to hit him and

Guiltner followed him by doing what you put guys in the 4 hole to do. On a 3-1 count Guiltner hammered a fastball into left center field for a double sending Guffey to the plate standing up for a 4-3lead. Next, Hollis grounded out moving Guiltner to 3rd. Freshman Ethan Birmingham struck out but the ICC catcher didn’t catch the swinging strike cleanly and had to complete the out with a throw to first. The throw was errant allowing Birmingham to reach safely and Guiltner to score making it 5-3 Salem. That would conclude the scoring in the3rd inning. The Hounds went quietly in the their half of the 4th, and ICC took advantage. Following a leadoff ground out, Guiltner issued a walk. The walk was followed by an in field single for the first of only two ICC hits on the day on a hit and run. The hit put ICC runners to 1st and 3rdwith one down. ICC was able to produce a sacrifice fly into right field to plate their 4th run and narrow the difference to 5-4. The ICC 1 hole came to the plate next and hit a fly ball down the left field line that was bobbled and dropped by Hollis allowing another score to tie the game at 5.Things were quiet until the top of the 6th inning despite a lead-off double from Guiltner to start the5th. Leisenring led off the top of the 6th with a hit by pitch to reach safely for the3rd time in 4 at bats. Bad luck followed. Two pitches later Leisenring was on the move to steal second base when Jackson hit a fly ball into shallow center. It was caught and Leisenring was doubled off at first. That brought Guffey to the plate with 2 down and none on with the game still tied at 5. Guffey fell behind1-2 again before fouling off a two strike pitch and then striking gold with a perfectly struck ball that cleared the left field fence for his first homerun of the 2023 season. Guffey’s home run would put the Hounds up for good. After 5 strong innings from Guiltner, Guffey’s younger cousin Sophomore Owen Guffey was tapped to pitch the 6th and7th. The younger Guffey allowed a little drama, but zero runs on 3 K’s for a final score of 8-5 with the help of a 2 RBI single from Jackson in the top of the7th.The Greyhounds pushed their record out to 7-4(4-2 in conference) with the win. Salem has a busy week next week with conference home games Mon-day, April 3rd vs Cave City at 5:30 and Tuesday at 4:00vs Walnut Ridge. Thurs-day the Hounds travel to Flippin and Friday to Tuckerman for another conference tilt.@ ICC Hank Guiltner: 5 IP, 8k’s, 1 ER. 2/4 2 doubles, RBI, BB, R, SB Matt Guffey: 2/3 HR, Double, 2 RBI, 3 R, 2 HBP,2 SB Caleb Leisenring: 2/3,BB, HBP, R, 2 SB Dakota Jackson: 1/4, 2RBI, R, BB, SBO wen Guffey: 2 IP, 3 K’s,0 R.