By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — As errors in the field compounded struggles at the plate, the Salamanca Lizards found themselves tallying their first loss of the season.
Falling 3-0 to the Dansville Gliders, Salamanca was put behind the 8-ball early, something that it had not experienced in its first two fixtures of the campaign, both wins.
With the Gliders wasting no time, jumping on the board with a run in the top of the first frame, it was the Lizards’ first time playing with a deficit this year. In their home and season-opener, they exploded out of the gates for a big eight-inning win over the Gliders. In their second game, against the Hitmen, they did concede a lead, but Horseheads was only able to tie up the affair, never leading, in a walk-off win for the Lizards.
And it was in the wake of facing its first deficit of the season, the errors started to stack up for Salamanca.
“I don’t think there was any problem with the effort or energy or anything, it was more just the execution,” Lizards coach Jerico Weitzel said. “In the first inning, the guy that scored, we had picked off at first, but we don’t make the play, and he scores. The second run they scored, we called for a breaking ball, we hang it, and the guy gets a bloop single. The third run, we throw a ball away on a steal. That’s what you don’t like, is that we don’t execute. It does change the flow of the game. … All those little mistakes that, when you’re winning a game 11-1, you might not really notice. But when it’s a close game, those little things make a huge difference.”
Salamanca’s Kolden McCall (44) delivers a pitch against Dansville. (Spencer Bates)
Mistakes on heroic attempts to get outs in the field played a big factor in Salamanca seeing its lead disappear twice in their most recent victory, plays that Weitzel stated he hoped his players would learn from after escaping with a victory. Unfortunately for him, he saw a few too many of his players stretch to make those last-ditch efforts after falling behind early against the Gliders.
What Weitzel wants from his players instead is for them to operate with a bit more composure, to understand that while there may be moments where they are playing from behind, having a heightened sense of situational awareness is key. Something that he believes will come in time.
“It’s almost like knocking the rust off,” Weitzel said. “Even though these guys played a whole college season, we had a month off. The timing of the game and knowing situations gets away from you quick. … But I think we’ll be alright. You just hope you learn from the mistakes and you don’t keep making them.”
But, as Weitzel admitted, affecting the mindset of his defense was the fact that his offense was struggling to piece together at-bats, something they had a significant amount of success with in Salamanca’s first two games of the campaign.
“It’s tough, their (pitchers) were really good, they had no-hitter before Gavin (Lasko) — (1-for-3, walk) — got a hit,” Weitzel said. “Their starter did a really good job of keeping our guys off-balance, mixing up his fastball and his changeup, and the longer we’re not scoring, that pressure mounts and it does carry over to the defense. … The stuff that you hope you don’t see is the little, forced things. But, I think, just because of the flow of the game, it kind of presents itself where you’re trying too hard to make a play.”
The Lizards were held to just three total hits on the night, the first having come in the fifth inning, but still, there were positives Weitzel was able to take from the offensive side of things. The biggest one being that his side was not giving away at-bats by striking out.
Salamanca only struck out five times in the loss and were able to make solid contact on a number of pitches, it just so happened that those knocks found their way easily into the gloves of Dansville players.
“You’ll take that hard contact all day long, especially with wooden bats,” Weitzel said. “You got kids that aren’t used to hitting with wood, so if they keep hitting the ball hard, eventually it will fall in, eventually the breaks will go your way. … I think we’ll be alright. It wasn’t like we were just striking out left and right, we just were not having a lot of luck today.”
Salamanca’s Nate Wolf (24) swings at a pitch. (Spencer Bates)
Weitzel will hope to see those mistakes corrected sooner rather than later as the NYCBL schedule keeps on rolling. The Salamanca Lizards will hit the road on June 14 to face off against the Horseheads Hitmen for the second time this season. First pitch for that game is set for 5 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
Dansville 101 010 000 R:3 H:11 E:2
Salamanca 000 000 000 R:0 H:3 E:3
Dans: Whitney (2 SO, 4 BB), Ryan (2 SO, 3 BB), DeStigter (1 SO, 0 BB) and Roy
Sala: McCall (1 SO, 1 BB), Tyler (4 SO, 1 BB) and Lasko
