SALAMANCA — In their final regular season game at home, the Salamanca Lizards put on a show, offensively, as they defeated the Dansville Gliders.

The bats were firing early in the 14-4 seven-inning mercy-rule win, Salamanca’s third in as many games and now the organization’s longest win streak on record. The Lizards were able to load the bases twice in the first inning alone, setting the tone for the rest of the affair in which they recorded 11 hits.

Seeing hits fall has been something the Lizards have done with relative success this season. The struggle has been in bringing those runners home. After packing bases twice, it came as a great relief to Salamanca coach Jerico Weitzel that his team found a way to capitalize on their early opportunity in the form of a two-RBI double from Mitchell McKinney (Jamestown Community College).

“Opening it up and getting it going takes pressure off the guys behind you,” Weitzel said. “Obviously, you’re scoring runs, that’s always nice, but now you can pitch a little different, you can be a little bit more aggressive and so, I was very happy with that.”

The Lizards managed to hang onto the lead until the third frame in which Dansville managed to tie the game up at two apiece. Starting pitcher Ryan Kinney, who had thrown two no-hit, no-run innings to start, found himself in a rough patch and conceded two runs and two hits. He was replaced after the inning by Dylan Kinney (Jamestown Community College), who finished out the game. The duo combined for 10 strikeouts, and five walks and allowed four runs on seven hits as the only two pitchers that saw the mound for Salamanca.

Gradual improvement and player development, Weitzel said, has been at the center of his approach and vision for this season. Now, in the final week of regular season games, he is seeing the improvement and the impressive display from his pitchers has been the perfect example.

“You have ups and downs as the season goes on, but like we said before, it’s about getting better so that, at the end of the year, you’re at your best,” Weitzel said. “We’re as fresh as we can be going into Monday (the start of the playoffs), we’re peaking and hoping to be playing good baseball at the right time.”

ANOTHER bright aspect of Lizards’ game was their consistency on the bats. In recent fixtures it had become an unfortunate trend for Salamanca to have started and finished games well, but with little scoring happening in between the early and late innings. This was far from the case against Dansville as the Lizards recorded a hit in all but one frame.

Salamanca took control of the lead for the second and final time in the fifth inning after a leadoff triple by Andrew Hartman was capitalized upon by Anthony Snyder (Alfred State) who recorded an RBI single in the very next at-bat. The momentum rolled into the sixth inning as the Lizards widened the gap with three runs after loading the bases once again. This time, it was Hartman (3-for-3 three RBI, three runs) that provided the important hit. His two-RBI single scored Jaxson Ross (St. Bonaventure) and Lucas Marsh (Jamestown Community College). Harley Hoag (Hilbert) scored the final run of the inning, stealing home after a passed ball reached the backstop.

Dylan Kinney gave up two runs in the top of the seventh as Dansville threatened the Lizard’s advantage. But, on a night in which the Gliders’ pitching had not been at its best, Salamanca capitalized and scored eight runs in the bottom of the frame to end the game via mercy rule.

Aside from the large amount of runs that were scored, what made the final inning special for the Lizards was that they only recorded one hit in the entire inning — a single by Timothy Johnson (Jamestown Community College). The first seven runs were all walked in, but the final nail in the coffin was Tyler Curtis’ (SUNY Fredonia) steal home on a passed ball.

The win was the last fixture at home for the Lizards in their debut season as a franchise. And while it may have been a bit more work than expected at first, Weitzel could not be happier with the way it all turned out.

“It’s been a little hectic on my end … but it’s been awesome,” Weitzel said. “Fans have been coming out, (we’ve had) good crowds here, supportive. People are excited, wanting to know when the next game is and all that kind of stuff. So, I’m very excited about all of that and I think it’s only going to build from here.”