In high school sports, the difference between home and road games doesn’t often mean much.

Through the first five games of the 2026 season it’s looking like Salisbury likes playing on its own field.

The Falcons are 2-0 at home and 0-3 on the road. Unfortunately for them, they are just halfway through a stretch of four games on the road.

After a big win against Dieruff at home, the Falcons hosted Jim Thorpe and came out on top in a wild 8-6 game. Starting pitcher Dominic Gracia pitched well for Salisbury and opened the game by putting the Olympians down in order in the first.

It looked for a short while like the offense would come up short in the first, but a two-out rally turned things around. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with two down and sophomore Logan Kao walked on a 3-2 pitch to force across the first run.

Another sophomore, Henry Pina Thevenint, delivered the big blow in the inning when he followed with a single to left to bring in two runs that gave Salisbury a three-run cushion after an inning.

Gracia ran into some second-inning trouble when he gave up a leadoff double, and a fielding error put runners on first and third with no outs. Gracia picked up a strikeout ahead of the second error in the inning that brought in a run and left the bases loaded.

A single by Lee Edwards tied the game 3-3, and a single by Cole Lazorick put Jim Thorpe up 4-3. A third error in the inning put Salisbury down 5-3 with all five runs being unearned.

“I know we struggle with our defense at times, but I trust my defense behind me,” said Gracia. “I am pretty confident on the mound, and I never feel like I have to be perfect or strike everybody out. I trust the guys on this team, and I just focus on what I need to do.”

While Salisbury’s defense struggled with fielding, Jim Thorpe pitcher Brody Schrantz struggled with his control. The Falcons stayed patient at the plate and loaded the bases on walks.

Kao, who is off to a hot start in his sophomore season, lined a pitch to right field to plate two runs and again tie the game.

“Logan (Kao) is a little guy, but he’s like a Tower of Power at the plate,” said Gracia of the sophomore. “We’re really strong with our one through five hitters and I love our offense.”

Pitching took over until Nate Nunez reached on a single in the bottom of the fourth and Markus Jones looked for a fastball, got it and didn’t miss it. The ball landed about eight feet past the left field fence for a 7-5 Salisbury lead.

“He threw me a fastball, and it was a little up. I just turned on him, and I knew when I hit it that it was gone,” said Jones. “We’ve all played together for a long time and I know we have some holes defensively, but that happens. We play together as a team and I like our chances this season.”

Salisbury wasn’t done in the fourth inning as two more walks and a single by Thevenint again loaded the bases. Unfortunately for Jim Thorpe, there was another sophomore coming to the plate. Tanner Kuder lifted a fly ball to right that brought in Gracia, who had taken one of the walks earlier in the inning.

Gracia went five innings and exited in favor of Josiah Kuhns. The Olympians got to Kuhns for a run in the sixth and the fourth error of the game in the seventh gave Jim Thorpe an opening, but Kuhns locked himself in and retired three straight hitters for an 8-6 Salisbury win.

At Lehighton, Nate Nunez had a big game with a double, two singles, and a walk to drive in four runs and score two more in an 11-10 loss in a slugfest. Jones and Kuder both had two hits with Jones driving in three runs and Kuder driving in one.

Nunez, who is hitting .615 (8-13) through the first five games, had a home run and two singles in a 4-3 loss at Northern Lehigh on Monday. The Falcons had just five hits but drew six walks and took advantage of two Bulldogs errors.

Salisbury trailed 4-2 going into the seventh and were down to their final out when Nunez and Jones collected back-to-back singles and an error gave the Falcons runners on second and third. Gracia was intentionally walked and Kuhns drove in a run with a single to right to make it 4-3 before Northern Lehigh was able to get the final out and preserve the win.

In addition to Nunez, Kao is hitting .571 (4-7) and Jones is at .500 (8-16). Salisbury is hitting .260 as a team.

On the mound, Gracia has a 1.00 ERA and has allowed just one earned run in seven innings. Jones has a 3.82 ERA in 7 1/3 innings. As a team, the Falcons’ ERA is at 3.62.

“We don’t always make it easy on ourselves with our fielding and we had a couple of baserunning mistakes that hurt us,” said Falcon head coach Justin Aungst. “We have to be locked into the game and stay locked in and not hurt ourselves. Fortunately, our offense is good and we battle back and don’t get down on ourselves.”