By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — After watching a six-run lead evaporate, it could be easy to throw in the towel, pack it in and let the mind wander to the next game on the calendar.
But when you operate with the sort of “quiet confidence” the Salamanca Lizards do, the focus never trails off. There is always the belief that they can dig themselves out of any hole they are put in.
It was that mettle that saw them rally back for a high-scoring 10-8 win over the Hornell Steamers on July 16.
“We always have a quiet confidence, (our players) never waver,” Lizards assistant coach Brandon Higley said. “Obviously, things kind of got away from us for a second there, but we never had doubt. As long as we were in it at the end, we’d have a shot. I’m proud of the battle, proud of the effort, proud of the comeback. It was pretty exciting.”
In the early innings of the affair, momentum was firmly in the hands of Salamanca. Behind a phenomenal start on the mound from Evan Stranko (5 SO, 0 BB), the hosts were able to generate offense at a consistent rate. Scoring a run apiece in the first and second innings, courtesy of Connor Smith (2-for-4, run, 3 RBI) and Harley Hoag (2-for-3, 2 runs, walk) respectively, and two apiece in the third and fourth.
“He’s special, he throws hard, he’s got a lot of good stuff,” Higley said of Stranko after his six-inning outing. “We’re proud of him. He controlled the zone, controlled the baseball, worked ahead, and that’s all we can ask for. He gave us a shot and it all worked out.”
The runs in the third were scored by Matt Smith (1-for-4, run, walk) and Lucas Marsh (1-for-4, run, RBI) while Nate Wolf (1-for-3, run, RBI) and Frank Kula (2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI) were brought across the plate in the fourth.
Gabe Roth (1-for-3, run, RBI), Marsh and Connor Smith (2) recorded RBIs throughout the opening four frames.
But although the Lizards were able to net two runs in the inning, there were signs of a potential momentum shift after the Steamers snapped Stranko’s no-hit outing in the fourth with a lone single. The visitors were unable to score from that hit, but one glimmer of hope wound up being all they needed.
Salamanca failing to record a hit in the very next inning — after recording at least one in each of the first four — only opened the door more.
Hornell added two more hits in the fifth and ended the shutout with a run as well. But it was far from done there. The Steamers tallied three hits in the sixth, scoring another two runs, and four more hits in the seventh, lunging into the lead behind five more runs.
From 6-0 up, to 8-6 down in a matter of three innings, the Lizards endured the full force of the Steamers’ momentum swing.
“It wasn’t our cleanest, there were a lot of fat pitches on two strikes, a couple errors there and we could have cleaned up some defensive things,” Higley said. “We’ll, for sure, get to work on that. We’ll rest up and hopefully it’s better by Friday.”
Salamanca’s Harley Hoag (7) swings at a pitch against Hornell. Hoag went 2-for-3 with two runs for the Lizards in their win over the Steamers. (Spencer Bates)
But even as they watched their comfortable lead get deleted in the blink of an eye, that “quiet confidence” had the Lizards still believing there was something to take from the game.
And if Hornell thought it had swiped momentum fast, Salamanca showed that it could reclaim it even quicker. In the bottom of the eighth, Salamanca’s big producers on the day in Hoag, Kula and Connor Smith all connected for hits with Kula’s — a two-RBI double — being the most crucial of the bunch as it put the Lizards back in front.
“He works so hard behind the scenes, doing the stuff people will never see,” Higley said of Kula. “He’s getting extra swings, his approach never wavers, he’s a rock-solid kid. He’s hit a lot of balls right at people in at-bats this year, so there’s nobody I’d rather have get that hit than that kid. He’s really special.”
The second big score swing of the game left Hornell with just three outs to salvage something. The visitors did manage to record two hits, but behind a good closing performance from Alex Rumfola (3 SO, 1 BB), Salamanca secured victory.
“You could totally feel the momentum slipping away from us there,” Higley said. “It’s not easy when moments like that happen to gain the momentum back, but somehow we found a way. And that’s kind of been the story. Throw records out the window, we’re always going to battle, no matter the situation. I’m not surprised by the end of the game tonight.”
The Lizards currently sit five points (two wins and a tie’s worth of points) back from third place in the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) standings. And with just seven games left in the regular season, the margins are getting slimmer by the day.
Salamanca will have a big chance to steal crucial points in their next game against the NYCBL-leading Genesee Rapids on July 18. That game will be played at home with first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
Hornell 000 012 500 R:8 H:11 E:2
Salamanca 112 200 04X R:10 H:11 E:3
Horn: Vogel (1 SO, 4 BB), Davis (6 SO, 0 BB), Pasquesi (0 SO, 2 BB) and Ellis
Sala: Stranko (5 SO, 0 BB), Jackson (0 SO, 0 BB), Rumfola (3 SO, 1 BB) and Lasko
