It feels absolutely appropriate that, to meet grand expectations and win the Section III Class AA championship, the Liverpool baseball team will have to climb over the defending champions, who just happen to be its biggest rival.
In what promises to be a Saturday classic, the top-seeded Warriors meet no. 5 seed Cicero-North Syracuse in the AA semifinals, with the winner to get Auburn or Fayetteville-Manlius in next Wednesday’s final at Alliance Bank Stadium.
To reach this point, Liverpool had to first find its way past no. 9 seed Corcoran, a game that was sprinkled with doubt until a big sixth inning allowed the Warriors to pull away and beat the Cougars 11-2.
CNS was, arguably, more impressive because it had to take a long road trip, to Utica Proctor, and beat the no. 4 seed Raiders in a tense 4-2 battle at Murnane Field.
The Northstars sent Joe Pokrentowski to the mound against Proctor’s ace, Steve Sarcone – who was bent on redemption after Liverpool had roughed him up in his last start start on May 17, which the Warriors won 12-4.
Neither side could break through until the top of the third inning, when CNS poked across a run, only to see Proctor counter it with a tally of its own in the bottom of the fourth.
Unfazed, the Northstars went ahead for good with a run in the fifth, then got what proved to be valuable insurance when it scored twice in the top of the seventh inning, knocking out Sarcone in the process.
John Howell earned three of CNS’s eight hits on the night, scoring a run. Riley Moonan had two hits and crossed the plate twice, as Brian Hamilton’s lone hit led to a pair of RBIs. Howell and Matt Dykeman also drove in runs.
Meanwhile, Pokrentowski went the route, overcoming five walks to limit Proctor to a scant pair of singles. CNS helped him by playing error-free defense as the Raiders committed two errors.
All this came mere hours after Liverpool’s work against Corcoran, who had eliminated Baldwinsville 3-1 in the opening round to get this far.
When the Warrior tagged Cougar pitcher Ryan O’Neill for a pair of first-inning runs, it looked to be the start of another bountiful effort at the plate. And it did happen – but not right away.
O’Neill settled down, blanking Liverpool over the next three innings as Corcoran poked across a run in the fourth to make it 2-1.
That seemed to arouse the Warriors, who made it 3-1 in the fifth, then erupted in the sixth. Everyone came to the plate as Liverpool tagged O’Neill and his relief replacement, Shawn Cregg, with eight runs.
Pat Brown, who put together another strong complete-game effort on the mound (only five hits and one walk allowed), also starred at the plate with three of Liverpool’s 13 hits as he tripled, scored three runs and earned an RBI.
Meanwhile, Pat Wright hit the game’s only home run, also doubling as he got two RBIs. Andrew Schreyack also smacked a pair of hits. Shawn Peake drove in two runs as Alex Caruso scored twice. Corbin Gapski had two hits, including a double, as Caruso and Luke Fischetti added doubles, too.