By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — The Salamanca Lizards may have had to wait to get their sophomore NYCBL season underway, but when it came time to take the field, they were ready.
Adverse weather conditions forced the postponement of what would have been the Lizards’ first two games of the season, an away and home fixture, respectively, both against the Olean Oilers. But instead of allowing the team’s mentality and focus to grow stale with the delays, Salamanca just continued to build up steam, eventually exerting it against Dansville in an eight-inning, 11-1 victory.
“I think they did a really good job with those delays,” Lizards coach Jerico Weitzel said. “They kept their focus at practice, we’ve had really good practices leading up to this, and it showed tonight. Obviously, it all starts on the mound. The guys pitched great, we fielded the ball well, didn’t make any errors or anything and made a couple of nice plays on defense that helped us out a lot. … I thought we did a really good job with the energy. The kids played hard and played well.”
The Lizards did not miss a step, firing on all cylinders from the first pitch against the Gliders — last season’s NYCBL runners up.
And it all started with the effort on the mound from starting pitcher Dylan Kinney (7 SO, 2 BB). A returner from last year’s squad, Kinney, whose performance on the evening was highlighted by a bases-loaded rescue, held Dansville scoreless through five innings, conceding just two hits in that time as well.
Kinney is set to be a pivotal piece to the puzzle for Weitzel’s Lizards this season and his effort on opening night was, according to him, a perfect encapsulation of what he is capable of doing on a regular basis.
“You never have to wonder what mood he’s in, he’ll let you know, he shows it,” Weitzel said of Kinney. “He’s kind of one of those guys that people look to naturally, and him coming out, having a really good start (helped us). He was really pitching, it wasn’t like he was just overpowering batters, he was able to battle and make some really big pitches when he needed to. I thought he did a really good job battling. I’ve seen him have better stuff before, but he competed really well and gave us a really good start and a really good chance to win.”
Salamanca’s Frank Kula (3) swings at a pitch. Kula was responsible for three of the Lizards’ runs in their win over the Gliders. (Spencer Bates)
And riding off Kinney’s hot start on the mound, Salamanca’s offense wasted no time getting on the board with a run apiece in the first inning by Gabe Roth (1-for-2, 2 runs, 3 RBI, 2 walks) and Connor Smith (0-for-1, 3 runs, RBI, 4 walks), who were brought in by Matt Smith (2-for-4, 3 RBI) on what would have been a broken-bat triple if he was not thrown out by a rocket from Dansville’s right fielder to throw him out as he slid for third.
After taking a hiatus in the second, Salamanca’s offense got right back to work, building upon its lead in the third inning with three more runs, two of which were brought across by Salamanca native Harley Hoag (1-for-3, 2 RBI) on a hard-hit double to right-center field that was mere feet from leaving the park.
“I thought we had really good at bats,” Weitzel said. “We had a few strikeouts, but it wasn’t anything too much. We’re battling, putting balls in play and that puts pressure on people. We worked a lot of walks, got guys on base, got traffic out there and, we talked about it last year, we had a lot of traffic, we just never cashed in. Today we did. … We did a really good job of piecing at-bats together and making innings hard. There was no easy, quick innings for their pitchers.”
The Lizards’ offense was also able to receive some help from Dansville’s pitchers late in the affair, scoring twice more in the bottom of the seventh — once via a sacrifice fly from Roth that scored Frank Kula (0-for-3, 3 runs, 2 walks), and another via Connor Smith who was walked in after the Gliders’ Alex Confarotta loaded the bases while struggling to find the strike zone.
For Weitzel, seeing his offense operate with that kind of patience and maturity while ahead was almost just as important as it was to see it generate runs on its own.
“That’s part of having an older roster here this summer,” Weitzel said. “These guys understand, ‘I’m not giving this at-bat away, this bat counts just as much as the one in the first inning.’ I think they do a really good job of piecing that together. There was no give up, there was energy and effort all the way to the very end.”
Salamanca’s Gabe Roth (4) takes a swing. Roth tallied three RBI against Dansville. (Spencer Bates)
The struggles on the mound only compounded in the eighth inning for Dansville and with four more runs, the Lizards were able to walk off the Gliders with a run-rule victory. One which had a bit of everything, and has Weitzel optimistic for the season ahead.
“It’s awesome to get off to a good start like that,” Weitzel said. “The message is going to be we got to keep doing it. There’s two months of (this league), and the more consistently you can put together outings like that, and effort like that, the better off we’re going to be.”
But the Lizards will not have much time to dwell on the win as they are set to square off against the Horseheads Hitmen at home on June 11 with first pitch slated for 12:30 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
R H E
Dansville 000 001 00X 1 6 1
Salamanca 203 000 24X 11 4 0
Dans: Claverie (3 SO, 5 BB), Ryan (3 SO, 1 BB), Confarotta (0 SO, 4 BB), Colpack (0 SO, 3 BB) and Garrett
Sala: D. Kinney (7 SO, 2 BB), Musone (2 SO, 2 BB) and Lasko
