On one side in Saturday night’s baseball Class AA regional final at Troy’s Bruno Stadium, Cicero-North Syracuse was free from the pressure of going after a second straight Section III title, but determined to reverse the result of its narrow defeat to Saratoga Springs in this same round a year ago.
Situated on the other side was section II champion Shenendehowa, feeling pressure on multiple fronts. As a whole, the Plainsmen expected to win this game, and on an individual level, pitching ace Ian Anderson was making one more start before his expected selection in this Thursday’s Major League Baseball draft.
For a brief moment, the Northstars peaked in front – but was soon overwhelmed by both Anderson’s fastball and Shen’s merciless production, each of which were key factors as the Plainsmen defeated C-NS by a 5-1 margin.
As the game got underway, Anderson, knowing that MLB teams were paying close attention to this particular outing, saw his fastball reach 94 miles per hour. He got through the first two innings despite hits from Brendan Reilly and A.J. Nesci, but so did Northstars pitcher Luke Dziados, who kept it 0-0.
Then, in the top of the third, Shen’s defense hurt Anderson, twice committing two-out errors that turned a quiet inning into one where C-NS poked across a run, seizing a 1-0 lead. It did not last long.
The Plainsmen loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the third. Given that scenario, C-NS was fortunate to escape having only allowed a pair of runs on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Joe Frasor and Richard Drum, which scored Nick Jacques and Joe Palko.
Ben Anderson’s double threatened to make it worse, but the Northstars got out of it to keep it 2-1, well within reach if it could contain Shen. But in the fourth, Mike Jeffers’ single and a sacrifice bunt allowed Jeffers to score on Jacques’ single.
James Salamone relieved Dziados, but the Plainsmen moved two runners into scoring position and, when Salamone threw a wild pitch, both of them raced home, doubling Shen’s margin, which looked safer with Anderson on the mound.
Somehow, Salamone made it out of a bases-loaded jam and C-NS didn’t allow any more runs. But Anderson’s fastball upticked to 95 miles per hour and he spent the last three innings adding seven more strikeouts to his total, meaning that he had amassed 16 K’s and only allowed two hits.
As Shenendehowa reached this weekend’s state final four in Binghamton, the Northstars concluded an 18-6 season, Nesci, Salamone, Nick Consroe and Mike Sciore are among the departing seniors, but a large group returns for 2017 that includes Dziados, Reilly, Dylan Frawley, Connor Stanton, Josh Ludden, Ben Christian and Chris Cramer.
