By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — The Salamanca Lizards, eyeing a change of fortunes ahead of the home stretch of the season, came up just short in their pursuit of the Genesee Rapids.
Entering the July 8 affair, Salamanca boasted a league-best 6-3-1 record over its last 10 games. That record boosted them from a team dwelling at the bottom of the New York Collegiate Baseball League’s (NYCBL) West Division to a true late-season threat in the race for the playoffs.
However, the Lizards’ record over that span was just one game better than the two teams tied for second-best over that stretch: fittingly, the East Division leaders, the Syracuse Salt Cats and the West’s leaders, the Genesee Rapids, both of which were 5-4-1 in their last 10.
So, as the hottest team in the NYCBL played host to the Rapids, they were in search of a statement win, one that would be the figurehead in its pursuit of the postseason. Unfortunately for the Lizards, they wound up just short, falling 5-3 on the night.
After two scoreless innings, that saw just one hit — courtesy of Salamanca’s Gavin Lasko (2-for-4, RBI) — Genesee found a breakthrough.
Lizards starting pitcher Josh Martos (5 SO, 2 BB) had diced up the Rapids through two frames, retiring the side in order both times. He was on the verge of doing so once again in the third until he walked Genesee’s Ritz Nonomura after having had him in an 0-2 count. The visitors’ lineup was, in turn, flipped and in the very next at-bat, their lead-off man, Gage Wheaton, blasted a two-run home run.
“It just put us in an unnecessary hole,” Lizards assistant coach Brandon Higley said of the home run. “A big swing kind of takes the wind out of your sails early. … There’s some mistakes that get magnified and it costs you. In this case, it definitely did.”
Any momentum that was in the balance was fully captured by Genesee in the immediate aftermath of the homer as it loaded the bases in the very next inning — a jam that Martos was able to escape from — and doubled its advantage in the top of the fifth with two more runs.
But the Lizards were not, and have not been a team to roll over when presented with an uphill fight, losing less than half of their games this season by a margin equal to or greater than the deficit it faced after 4.5 innings against the Rapids.
Salamanca’s resilience was put on display in the bottom of the fifth as it immediately erased the two runs Genesee had scored in the top of the frame through back-to-back two-out RBI singles from Connor Smith (1-for-5, RBI) and Matt Smith (1-for-5, RBI) that scored Timothy Johnson (1-for-2, run, walk) and Frank Kula (1-for-2, 2 walks).
The Lizards clawed another run back with a Lasko RBI double that scored Sean Connor (1-for-5, run) in the very next inning.
“I was confident all the way to the last pitch of the game,” Higley said. “We’ve been in those situations a ton, and you never go out into the field thinking that you don’t have a chance. We’ve seen (that resilience) a handful of times, so many I’ve lost count. So when you get into those holes, you never really waver, and neither does the team, which is a great characteristic to have.”
Salamanca Lizards first baseman Hunter White (12) swings at a pitch. (Spencer Bates)
The Rapids were able to bring their bats back to life after a short hiatus and restored one of the runs it had lost to their hosts’ offensive surge.
Salamanca, in search of two potentially game-saving runs, had three baserunners between the eighth and ninth innings. However, without a timely hit to bring them in, the victory was Genesee’s to tally.
“Earlier in the season, that was kind of the theme, we’d get guys on base and by the inches, we wouldn’t be able to come through,” Higley said. “We found some grass there for a while, but tonight, we just went back to the beginning stages of what we’re going through. But that’s just baseball, it’s a game of ups and downs. Hopefully we start to find some middle ground.”
Still, in the wake of the defeat, Higley was able to find a silver lining. One that highlights the fact that improvements are being made and that the work his players have put in is starting to get rewarded with wins.
“I think we’re just playing cleaner baseball,” Higley said. “We’re not beating ourselves. … The lone difference in this game was the two-out walk that led to a two-run homer. And I wouldn’t necessarily characterize that as us beating ourselves either. Walks are going to happen. But we’ve played very clean baseball the last 11 games and it’s reflecting in the win column, finally. I’m proud of that.”
The Lizards will have the chance to get back on the winning side of things on July 9 when they face the Hornell Steamers on the road at 7 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
Genesee 002 020 100 R:5 H:9 E:2
Salamanca 000 021 000 R:3 H:7 E:1
Gene: Bowman (6 SO, 2 BB), Colley (4 SO, 1 BB), Cooper (2 SO, 1 BB) and Guzman
Sala: Martos (5 SO, 2 BB), Tyler (2 SO, 1 BB) and Lasko
