By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — The Salamanca baseball team went 3-up, 3-down in the first inning of its game against Allegany-Limestone.
Call it a delayed start, because over the next three innings, the fewest number of batters that the Warriors sent to the plate was six as they ran up the score in an eventual 10-4 win.
Prior to the season, Salamanca head coach Greg Herrick noted that this year would be one centered around the development of his next wave of players. A significant number of his team’s veterans graduated after last season, leaving major holes in the lineup to be filled with relative inexperience. And while the consistency aspect is still something he is looking for, a big win over a league opponent can only help them along.
“With any young kids, you’re chasing consistency,” Herrick said. “We almost upset Fredonia a few nights ago, and then went up there the next night and played a whole different style of baseball. Not competitive. So, right now, it’s tough. We don’t know what to expect every night, but we’ve had some really good performances, which tells me that the potential is there for these guys. … The leaders are really leading well, and the young kids are progressing at a faster rate than I thought they would.”
Of those younger players, Parker Stahlman (2-for-4, 3 runs) and Madden Wolfe (1-for-3, run, 2 RBI, walk) both had a major impact on the affair.
“I think Parker Stahlman was really big for us tonight, consistently hit the ball, had a couple line drives, and that makes our line up a little bit deeper,” Herrick said. “Our eighth-grader, Madden Wolfe, he’s been more than we ever expected. He’s got a really good swing, he works on it a ton. He’s got a ton of baseball experience and he’s doing really well for an eighth-grader.”
Salamanca’s Callum Farnum (5) winds up a pitch against Allegany-Limestone. Farnum struck out seven batters for the Warriors in their win over the Gators. (Spencer Bates)
The offensive barrage from the Warriors was highlighted by a five-run third inning and an inside-the-park home run from Brendon Ghani in the fourth.
Herrick noted that previously he and his staff had been preaching patience while at the plate. But after seeing his team lean too far into that, resulting in some less-than-effective offense, he has been encouraging an aggressive mindset at the plate. That change in approach is what he believes led to the red-hot offense early on.
“We think they’ve been too patient, too passive, almost looking for a walk,” Herrick said. “So we’ve been really telling them to go up and be more aggressive. The first pitch might be the best pitch you get. So it was tough to balance (being patient and aggressive), but I thought they did well. They adjusted, they could see that (A-L’s) starter was struggling in the second inning with some control issues, and they stayed off some borderline pitches, which, again, shows a level of maturity that I’m pretty proud of. … Hitting is probably the last piece to come together for us, so, until then, we just have to piece it together with being strong on the bases and having good at-bats, commanding the zone when we’re in the box. I think they did that in the second and third innings.”
That third inning was the exact kind that A-L head coach Eric Hemphill has been wanting to avoid. Too many times this season, he noted, his side has been burned by one inning that gets away. His message to the team is that if their defense can just avoid that one frame from a number of these games, they won’t have to do as much chasing.
“We don’t have guys that are gonna strike out 16 guys a game, we’re gonna have to make those outs somewhere, and we gotta trust that the guys will make those plays,” Hemphill said. “For four or five innings, a lot of times, it’s there. … It’s usually one inning each game where it gets away from us and it’s always hard to fight back.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Dylan Rhodes (5) delivers a pitch against Salamanca. (Spencer Bates)
But there were aspects of the loss that Hemphill still found praise-worthy. He pointed out that his team stayed in the game, despite a five-inning mercy rule looming over their heads.
The Gators got solid relief pitching out of Marcus Forrest, who struck out four and quelled the Salamanca offense, and manufactured some runs off their host’s relief pitchers.
“Earlier this week and late last week, at 9-0, we would have just folded the tent and went home,” Hemphill said. “But, Marcus Forrest came in, gave us some strikes, gave us some innings. The hitters kept fighting against their pitchers and we scored some runs.
“Our league is very difficult. There is no easy games. And I just keep telling them that they got to keep improving. You can’t go backwards. Going backwards is gonna push into the next year. We get most of these guys back. We gotta keep taking steps in the right direction. One giant step was not folding, and making this a mercy-rule and a five-inning game.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Conner Crowley (15) swings at a pitch against Salamanca. Crowley tallied an RBI for the Gators in their loss to the Warriors. (Spencer Bates)
Salamanca and Allegany-Limestone will play the reverse fixture at A-L on April 27 at 5 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
Allegany-Limestone 000 002 2 R:X H:X E:X
Salamanca 025 201 X R:X H:X E:X
A-L: Rhodes (2 SO, 2 BB) Forrest (4 SO, 2 BB) and Cowburn
Sala: Farnum (7 SO, 1 BB), Bradley (2 SO, 1 BB), Seeley (0 SO, 2 BB), Stahlman (2 SO, 1 BB) and Bradley
