One win for the Liverpool baseball team over its main rival, Cicero-North Syracuse, was nice – but two of them would be needed if it wanted to win the Section III Class AA championship.
With a berth in the title game on the line Saturday afternoon, the top-seeded Warriors took advantage of whatever gifts the no. 5 seed Northstars handed out, then used its bats to put things away in a 9-5 victory.
Back on May 7, Liverpool had first met CNS, mostly relying on the fine pitching of Pat Brown to prevail 3-1. Since Brown had pitched in the Warriors’ AA quarterfinal win over Corcoran two days earlier, left-hander Cory Folk got the mound assignment against the Northstars’ own lefty, Bobby Renaud.
CNS got just the start it wanted against Folk in the top of the first inning, seizing a quick 2-0 lead. With Riley Moonan on base, John Howell ripped a run-scoring triple, then came home on Brian Hamilton’s grounder.
It was critical that Liverpool respond – which it did by scoring twice to even things up at 2-2, Pat Brown and Mike Parsons crossing the plate after a pair of costly CNS errors kept the rally alive.
Folk escaped big trouble in the top of the third. CNS loaded the bases with no one out, but he forced John Howell into a fielder’s choice (which put the Northstars up 3-2), then coaxed Hamilton to fly out and struck out Jack Hotaling.
Liverpool then went ahead for good in the bottom of the third with a three-run rally. Brown led off with a single, then raced home with the tying run when Parsons doubled.
With the bases loaded and no one out, Jim Wright hit into a double play, which put Liverpool up 4-3, and a CNS error produced another run.
A Warrior tally in the fourth made it 6-3 as Austin Hyde replaced Renaud, but Liverpool kept hitting. With two out in the fifth, Pat Brown hit an RBI double, and Alex Caruso sent a two-run home run over the right-field fence.
Meanwhile, Folk went five innings, allowing four hits while striking out two. Reliever Joe Riley met some trouble in the seventh when Moonan and Howell hit back-to-back solo home runs, but he closed out the win.
With that win, Liverpool advances to meet no. 2 seed Auburn this Wednesday at 4:30 at Alliance Bank Stadium for the AA championship. The Maroons held off Fayetteville-Manlius 7-6 in the other semifinal.
