By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — For the second time this season, the Salamanca Lizards have found themselves settling for a tie with the Hornell Steamers.
The difference between the 5-5 draw on the night and the 7-7 tie from earlier in the campaign being that, for the grand majority of the time, the Lizards were not the ones chasing, but fighting to stay in front.
After three scoreless innings to open the game, Hornell managed to strike first, scoring the opening run in the fourth. However, Salamanca, after dealing with a recent run of inconsistent offensive production, was able to get some run support of its own backing up the solid start it got on the mound from Sawyer Prince.
“We weren’t having the best luck finding some green grass,” Lizards assistant coach Brandon Higley said. “We’re starting to get a little bit of run support here, especially in clutch situations, which speaks a lot about what our kids are made of, which is great to see, obviously.”
The Lizards answered the Steamers’ run with two of their own, courtesy of Matt Smith (2 RBI) and Connor Smith (2-for-4, RBI), and from there they fought to keep their noses in front, staving off the visitors’ attempts at reclaiming the lead.
Hornell managed to tie the game with a run in the fifth, but yet another, immediate two-run response from Salamanca put the advantage back in the hosts’ hands, this time with a buffer.
But while the Lizards’ bats coming to life did play a major role in them being able to control the affair, what made the biggest difference was the performances they got from their pitching rotation.
Prince, a reliever by trade, worked through the first 4.1 innings, striking out five and walking just one in the process. He was eventually replaced by Nate Tyler who went another 3.1 frames in which he sat down two on strikes and walked one. Jase Bourdon closed out the affair, notching a strikeout in 2.1 innings.
“For two guys who show up on mound days, but don’t get to throw a lot, they work during the week,” Higley said of Prince and Tyler. “Sawyer doesn’t throw that long of an outing often. Then Nate came in and did a great job too. And Jace was on short notice. He wasn’t supposed to go today, we ended up needing him, and he came in and did his thing. We just asked them to give us a chance and that’s what they did tonight.”
But their strikeout numbers were not what highlighted the trios’ day on the mound. As Higley noted, it was their ability to work out of high-pressure situations. There were several occasions in which the Steamers could have broken the affair wide open: They loaded the bases several times and put go-ahead runners in scoring position often. But when the Lizards needed them most, their pitchers provided.
“I think winning baseball games, the key is each side of the coin backing each other up,” Higley said. “Offense backing up the pitching when they need it, pitching backing up the offense when they need it. I think there’s got to be a good balance and we had that tonight … they did a great job of battling.”
Salamanca’s Timothy Johnson (1) swings at a pitch. Johnson scored a run for the Lizards in their tie with the Steamers. (Spencer Bates)
Hornell cut the Lizards’ lead to just one run in the sixth, but it was not until the top of the ninth inning when they managed to flip the script on Salamanca.
With two outs on the board, a win was within the grasp of the Lizards. Unfortunately, a bases-loaded, bloop hit into center field from Steamers third baseman Dylan Walsh changed the game as he brought two across the plate, giving the visitors the lead. Salamanca got out of the inning on a pick-off play from Gavin Lasko, but the damage was done and the hosts needed another answer.
In the first meeting between the sides this season, the Lizards scored six runs between the eighth and ninth frames to force extras. And while a comeback that dramatic was not needed, Salamanca was, in fact, able to break Hornell’s hearts thanks to a Connor Smith single that scored Harley Hoag (1-for-3).
“I see (that clutch gene) a lot,” Higley said of his team. “We battle back quite often. Sometimes we come through, sometimes we don’t, but we’ve had a couple of walk-offs already this year and a couple of games where we’ve come back to tie.”
The Lizards were able to keep the Steamers from scoring in the 10th, but they too ended up being held scoreless, and with the NYCBL’s extra-inning rule, the sides were forced to settle for a tie.
Salamanca’s record moves to 4-9-3 with the draw. It will look to get back to winning ways next time out, on June 29 at 2 p.m. against the Horseheads Hitmen at home.
AT SALAMANCA
Hornell 000 111 002 0 R:5 H:16 E:1
Salamanca 000 220 001 0 R:5 H:6 E:1
Horn: Gleeson-Payne (5 SO, 4 BB), Pasquesi (5 SO, 2 BB) and catcher
Sala: Prince (5 SO, 1 BB), Tyler (2 SO, 1 BB), Bourdon (1 SO, 0 BB) and Lasko
