Once again, a group of North Syracuse Babe Ruth Baseball players is vying for state, regional and – potentially – national honors.
In this case, it’s the 15-and-under North Syracuse side grabbing the honors, starting out last weekend when it went to Ithaca and won the Western New York state championship, sweeping all four of the games it played.
As a result, North Syracuse heads to Niskayuna, near Albany, to play in the Babe Ruth Mid-Atlantic Regional, starting this Friday and running through Wednesday. The winner of that tournament goes to the Babe Ruth 13-15 World Series Aug. 20-27 in Longview, Washington.
The Western New York final on July 20 pitted North Syracuse against the host team, Ithaca, a team it had already beat 6-0 the day before, putting Ithaca into the loser’s bracket, from where it emerged to get another shot at North Syracuse in the title game.
But the result was the same, except with more runs. North Syracuse won 11-4, getting three runs in each of the first innings to seize control and never letting up from there.
Power was everywhere, starting with Sam Kippen and his pair of home runs. Billy Clifford also went deep in the third inning and added a pair of doubles while going three-for-four, while Jonah Harder also managed three hits, including an RBI single that, with run-scoring hits from Warren Hoke and Nick Consrow, helped put the game away in the sixth inning.
Tom Bianchi pitched for North Syracuse and earned the win, despite some late runs from Ithaca that made it a bit closer. Bianchi also managed a pair of hits at the plate.
The North Syracuse roster includes Bianchi, Kippen, Clifford, Harder, Hoke, Consrow, Nick Antonello, Brandon Brown, Cam Clark, Devin Medeiros, Brendan Reilly, Robby Ruley, Zach Scannell and Mike Yiazzo. Tony Antonello, Joe Scannell and Rob Ruley coach the team.
This follows on the heels of the work by the Cicero Dawgs 18-and-under team, who went to the Big League Baseball Eastern Regional Tournament in Dover, Delaware and emerged with a 3-2 record, the same as it recorded when it went to the Eastern Regional a year ago.
Having claimed the New York state tournament title earlier in the month, the Dawgs rolled to a pair of easy wins over Connecticut by margins of 9-3 and 9-1, and also defeated New Jersey 2-1.
But the host team from Delaware proved too tough, winning 8-0 in the second round and then stopping Cicero 6-0 later in the tournament, leading the Dawgs to a third-place finish.
Most of the Dawgs roster comprised of current or former Cicero-North Syracuse players, including Joe Brisson, Mike Brisson, Mike Copani, Luke Dziados, Owen Dziados, Jesse Farabee, Joel Farabee, Dylan Frawley, Josh Ludden, Paul Ludden, Vince Mallaro, Steve Theetge, Jason Shandler, Sam Spadafore and C.J. Szczesny.
Ken Dubois managed the team, with Kurt DeLuca and George Dziados serving as assistant coaches. All told, Cicero went 30-8 as a travel team this season, claiming the District 8 travel team title and winning the Battle of the Falls Tournament, while finishing second in Buffalo at the Can-Am Wood Bat Classic.
