By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — Time is against the Salamanca Lizards in their race for the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) Playoffs.
But luckily for them, they had a great chance to steal some points while in pursuit of the postseason as they took momentum — earned from a dramatic high-scoring win in their last outing — into their fixture against the league-leading Genesee Rapids on July 18.
Unfortunately, there would be no late dramatics this time around for the hosts as the Rapids established themselves early and continued applying pressure throughout all nine innings, topping the Lizards by a 10-3 margin.
“It was just kind of a clunker,” Lizards assistant coach Brandon Higley said. “You’re going to have those throughout a long season, especially late in the year. I don’t think the focus and the energy was where it should have been and it reflected on the scoreboard.”
However, the opening frame of the game spun a different story altogether as Salamanca’s starting pitcher on the night, Aidan Gruber (3 SO, 3 BB) sat down Genesee in order. It was after that initial frame though when things started taking a negative turn for the home side.
The Rapids scored two runs on two hits in both the second and fourth frames, jumping out to a 4-0 lead through just less than half of the affair. The Lizards did look to be on the verge of putting a halt to the early scoring momentum of their guests, keeping them off the board in the fifth and through two outs in the sixth. But it was after that second out was recorded in the sixth inning when the dam broke, leading to the visitors piling three more runs onto their advantage with their backs against the wall.
Genesee scored twice more in the seventh and added one final insurance run in the eighth to close out the win.
A big factor in the loss according to Higley was the off-color performances his team got on the bump. All season long, pitching has been a cornerstone for Salamanca’s program. Against Genesee, its pitchers were just unable to get ahead in counts consistently.
“I think we fell behind a lot early,” Higley said. “That’s a really good lineup. If you fall behind 2-0, 3-1, they’re going to eliminate pitches. They know they’re going to get fast balls. They’re going to hit them hard. That’s what good hitters do. We got to be better early in counts and we got to attack the baseball a bit more.”
Salamanca’s Harley Hoag (7) swings at a pitch. Hoag finished 1-for-4 with a run for the Lizards in their loss to the Genesee Rapids. (Spencer Bates)
Still, Salamanca did not go down without a fight, scoring a run apiece in the sixth, eighth and ninth with two coming courtesy of one of the Lizards’ NYCBL All-Stars, Connor Smith (1-for-3, 2 runs, 2 walks), and the other being scored by Harley Hoag (1-for-4, run). Lucas Marsh (1-for-4), Hunter White (1-for-3) and Frank Kula (0-for-5) each recorded an RBI.
But while the Lizards were able to generate some momentary success at the plate, more often than not they found themselves in the company of old fortunes as hard-hit connections found their way directly to opposition gloves. The difference this time was that the flyouts were occurring far earlier in pitch counts, only compounding the mental anguish.
“We’ve talked about all three phases, I don’t think we had any of them tonight,” Higley said. “The defense wasn’t super clean, we were giving at-bats away. So, yeah, it was not really motivating. But the good thing about this league is that we get another shot tomorrow, so we’ll strap them up tomorrow.”
And Higley is correct, Salamanca will have another shot tomorrow, as well as at least one per day until the final date of the NYCBL’s regular season (July 23).
But the margins are getting razor thin for the Lizards who now have just six games left on the schedule and sit eight points (four wins) behind the third-place Dansville Gliders, who they will travel to play for the final time this season on July 19 at 5 p.m. — a massive opportunity for the Lizards to make a splash late in the calendar.
AT SALAMANCA
Genesee 020 203 210 R:10 H:12 E:0
Salamanca 000 001 011 R:3 H:6 E:0
Gene: Adkins (4 SO, 4 BB), Stefan (0 SO, 0 BB), Zheng (0 SO, 2 BB) and Guzman
Sala: Gruber (3 SO, 3 BB), McCall (0 SO, 1 BB), Wight (0 SO, 1 BB) and Lasko
