By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — The Salamanca Lizards had got their season underway less than 24 hours prior to the first pitch of their second game of the year against the Horseheads Hitmen, but the lack of time between games did not dull their edge.
Starting off hot and finishing strong, Salamanca managed to make the right plays at the right time, repelling Horseheads and retaking the lead twice in nine innings for a walk-off 6-5 win.
“Today we did not execute and play as well, but we competed all the way to the end,” Lizards coach Jerico Weitzel said. “There were chances for us to give in and give up more runs, but we battled the entire way through. I just think that the theme today was compete and battle. Some guys were cramping, we used almost the entire roster, and all the guys were just doing a really good job of battling.”
There were no signs of fatigue from the Lizards’ offense, which brought across four runs in the very first frame. Two of which, courtesy of Tim Beimel (0-for-1, run, RBI, walk) and Lucas Marsh (1-for-4, run) were brought across by Nate Wolf (1-for-4, 3 RBI, walk) on a two-out single that could have led to much more if it were not for a baserunner having been tagged out while trying to reach third from first on the play.
And although Weitzel would have liked to see his team’s two-out surge continue, seeing four runs generated after being under threat of getting sat down in order to start the game was another positive sign for what his team is capable of.
“Every at-bat matters, you don’t know when it’s going to happen, it might be at the end (of a game), it might be you leading off an inning, you never know,” Weitzel said of his team’s mentality at the plate. “We just have to keep piecing at-bats together. That doesn’t always mean get a hit, but having a good at-bat, making the pitcher work, getting to the bullpen. I thought we did a really good job of that today. That two-out rally, that’s huge, it ends up being, basically, the difference in the game, because we didn’t really do a ton after that.”
Salamanca’s Nate Wolf (24) connects swings at a pitch. Wolf tallied three RBI against Horseheads. (Spencer Bates)
But unlike in their season and home-opener the night before, the visitors were able to conjure up some offense of their own, partly due to a handful of Salamanca throwing errors.
The Hitmen scored twice as the Lizards looked to make daring plays at first that wound up missing the mark. And it was after that second unearned run, coming across in top of the fourth inning, when they managed to knot the contest up with a two-run homer from Mason Cook (1-for-3, 2 runs, 3 RBI, walk). The errors were the first real sign of concern for Weitzel in the extremely early goings of the season, but with the veteran lineup that he has this summer, he is confident that the errors were only momentary lapses and not signs of a larger, underlying issue.
“You hope that’s a learning experience and we get better from it,” Weitzel said. “We talked to the infielders today about how sometimes the best throw is no throw. Sometimes the play is already over. They did their job, they got a hit. Yeah, you want to do something about it, but maybe you can’t and you just have to let it go and move on to the next play.”
The offense’s production waxed and waned almost by-inning for the Lizards, going from drawing walks and connecting on pitches one inning, to being sat down in order the next.
But with three hits in the fourth frame they re-captured the lead by a single run. One that was maintained until the top of the eighth when the Hitmen, once again, knotted things up after scoring on a wild pitch moments after the hosts — who saw two runners get into scoring position with no outs — were sat down in the previous half-inning.
So, after conceding the lead it had established so early for a second time, and in such a crucial moment in the affair, Salamanca needed to find another answer.
A leadoff single from Matt Smith (2-for-4, 2 runs, walk) and three consecutive drawn walks provided exactly that.
“There was no panic,” Weitzel said of his team’s maturity and confidence late in the game. “No one really blinked. They tied it up, and you heard everybody in the dugout saying ‘it’s all right, we’ll get it back, battle back, and get the lead again.’ … It was just kind of accepted that this is part of the game. They’re going to score runs too, and we’re going to go from there.”
Salamanca’s Lucas Marsh (13) connects on a pitch. (Spencer Bates)
Maturity and confidence have been big themes for the Salamanca Lizards to start the year as they now move to 2-0. They will hope for that trend to continue as they prepare to face the Dansville Gliders at home in their next affair on June 13 at 6:30 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
R H E
Horseheads 010 300 010 5 7 0
Salamanca 400 100 001 6 8 3
Hor: Masters (0 SO, 4 BB), Klemann (3 SO, 2 BB), Matsuda (0 SO, 3 BB) and Underhill
Sal: Bourdon (4 SO, 4 BB), Rumfola (3 SO, 4 BB) and Cardona, White, Lasko
