By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — Over the course of their six-game winless streak, consistent offense eluded the Salamanca Lizards.
But no matter how frustrating their lack of production was over that span, coach Jerico Weitzel and the rest of the Lizards’ coaching staff maintained that they were doing nothing wrong and it was only a matter of time until those fly-outs turned into hits.
Much to the relief of the Salamanca staff, that sentiment proved to be true as its offense sprung to life in its NYCBL rivalry double-header against the Olean Oilers.
The Lizards claimed the first game by a score of 7-6 and the second — courtesy of a seventh-inning walk-off — by a score of 8-7.
“There were a couple hits I remember, Frank (Kula) hit a ball in the gap, and I was like, ‘well, with our luck, it’ll probably get caught,’” Weitzel laughed while reflecting on his team’s recent offensive slump. “But I thought we did a really good job jumping out (on offense). We had home runs early in both games, we fell behind in both games and we were able to battle back. … It was just a really good job of battling and competing. It wasn’t great baseball from either side, I think there was a lot of mistakes that both teams would like to see cleaned up, but you just got to find a way to battle, fight through it and get a win at the end.”
In the first game, the Lizards were immediately put on the back foot as the Oilers jumped on starting pitcher Dylan Novak, scoring twice thanks to RBIs from Chase Fischer (1-for-4, RBI) and JT Smith (1-for-4, RBI). But instead of folding, Salamanca — holding onto the belief that their fortunes were due to change — erupted on offense, scoring four runs in an immediate response. Three of the hosts’ first-frame runs were brought in by a three-run home run by Matt Smith (1-for-2, run, 3 RBI, 2 walks).
The Lizards were able to ride that momentum through the middle innings of the affair, scoring a run apiece in the second and fourth innings. Meanwhile Novak was able to shake off his rough start and keep the Oilers from scoring again until the fifth, innings that proved to be crucial as the visitors looked to stage a comeback late.
Olean out-scored Salamanca 4-1 over the final three innings of the first game, but came a run short of knotting up the scores as the latter rejoiced after putting an end to its winless stretch.
Salamanca’s Dylan Novak (14) delivers a pitch in the first game of a double-header against Olean. Novak tallied three strikeouts for the Lizards in their 7-6 win over the Oilers on June 21. (Hunter O. Lyle)
The second affair started eerily similar to the first as Olean ran out to a 2-0 lead, only for Salamanca to respond immediately with four runs, three of which coming yet again from a three-run homer, this time courtesy of Santino Musone (2-for-3, run, 3 RBI, walk).
The Lizards added another run to their lead in the third inning, but this time found themselves momentarily unable to withstand the late surge from the Oilers.
Olean scored twice in the fifth and, with three runs in the top of the seventh, took a two-run lead as it looked to play spoiler.
And much like in the first game, Fischer found himself the engine driving the Oilers in the second game, going 2-for-4 with a run and three RBI.
“I mean, he’s our four-hole guy for a reason,” Olean coach Jake Meeker said. “Relying on him at the plate is big for us. He can drive the baseball out of here, but he can also go the other way and score a guy if he needs to.”
Olean’s Chase Fischer (30) connects on a pitch for a single during his initial at-bat against Salamanca on June 21. Fischer had four RBIs for the Oilers over the course of their double-header losses to the Lizards. (Hunter O. Lyle)
But unfortunately for Fischer and Meeker, their dramatic comeback victory was not to be as disciplined approaches at the plate from the Lizards led to numerous walks in the bottom of the seventh. The final, and most important of all, was the one drawn by Timothy Johnson which brought home Matt Smith for the game-winning run.
“You always try to limit when things are going bad,” Weitzel said of his team’s response to going down late. “(Timothy Johnson) hadn’t had the greatest game, offensively, to start the day, but he stayed with it and has a good at bat at the end. … It was a really overall good fight by the team to stay in the game. Even when we got down in that last inning, when it was 7-5, there was no give-up in our dugout. (The mood was) ‘hey, we’re going to find a way to tie this, we got the top of our lineup coming up, we’re going to find a way.’ And that’s what you love to see.”
Ultimately, Meeker noted that his side had their “worst day of baseball” thus far this season, citing a handful of mistakes that cost the Oilers at least one victory. However, if there was something positive he was able to take away from the day it would be the willingness to battle he saw from his team.
“We’ve seen it in every game we’ve had,” Meeker said. “They just keep fighting. They don’t care if we’re down. They don’t care if we’re up. They keep going. I’m super thankful to be their coach. They put all they can into the game. There’s not much more I can ask for.”
Meanwhile, for Salamanca, which has a packed schedule on its horizon — playing five games between June 23 and 25 — the wins over their most direct rival are set to provide a big boost to morale.
“Any time you get two wins, it’s great, and any time we can beat them, obviously, it’s going to be a big deal for us,” Weitzel said.
Salamanca’s Matt Smith (18) connects on a pitch against Olean. Smith recorded two hits and three runs over the course of his team’s June 21 double-header against the Oilers. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Salamanca is next in action on June 23. They will travel to face the reigning NYCBL champion Syracuse Salt Cats in a double-header with the first game slated to begin at 5 p.m.
Up next for the Oilers is a double-header at home on June 22 against the Rochester Ridgemen, set to start at 1 p.m.
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GAME ONE (7 innings)
AT SALAMANCA
Olean 200 012 1XX R:6 H:11 E:3
Salamanca 410 110 0XX R:7 H:8 E:2
OL: Ross (2 SO, 4 BB), Roche (3 SO, 2 BB), Arreola (5 SO, 1 BB), O. Smith (2 SO, 0 BB) and J. Smith
Sal: Novak (3 SO, 1 BB) and Lasko
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GAME TWO (7 innings)
AT SALAMANCA
Olean 110 020 3XX R:7 H:8 E:0
Salamanca 041 000 3XX R:8 H:7 E:3
OL: Manendo (5 SO, 4 BB), Laieta (0 SO, 4 BB) and Collins
Sal: Gruber (5 SO, 4 BB), Jackson (0 SO, 2 BB) and Cardona, Lasko
