By PAUL GOTHAM
GENEVA, N.Y. — While others his age work on their tans during the summer months, Luke Salerno (Castleton St.) is working on his repertoire.
The Geneva Twins starter debuted a new pitch during Sunday afternoon’s New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park. The results speak for themselves.
“I recently incorporated a sinker into my arsenal,” Salerno said after his third win of the season a 6-2 victory over the Olean Oilers. “I’ve always messed around with different grips. Today I thought would be a good day to try it out.”
The right-hander held the Oilers hitless for the first two and two-thirds then retired 10 of the last 11 he faced.
“I was giving that a pretty good go today,” Salerno said of the sinker. “I was getting a lot of ground balls out of it.”
The win was the third straight for the Essex Jct, Vermont native. He has worked into the seventh in each of those outings.
“He’s done a great job this summer,” Geneva manager Andy Weeks commented. “We always encourage guys to play with grips and change pressure. See what works.
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A lot of kids come from a high-stress environment during the college season. There’s still the structure during the summer season, but it’s a chance to find themselves.”
Salerno tossed seven shutout innings against first-place Niagara (12-5) on June 11th. He followed that up by going six and two-thirds against third-place Hornell (10-7). He allowed two runs on five hits in that outing. Sunday he surrendered two runs on, again, five hits.
Olean touched him for a run apiece in the third and fourth innings before he locked in and finished the game.
“I started to get away from how I’ve always pitched,” Salerno said of his mid-game stumbles. “I started to pull my head a little bit.
But he righted the ship.
“I really thought about you know what I was doing up there,” Salerno said. “I made adjustments. That’s what you got to do.”
Time to make adjustments, try out new things.
“That’s what summer ball is all about.”
Geneva (10-9) travels to Olean (8-9) to take on the Oilers, Monday night. A 7 p.m. first pitch is scheduled at Bradner Stadium.
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