A split of early-season non-league games could not, in any way, prepare Cicero-North Syracuse’s baseball team for the excitement once CNY Counties League play started.
Hosting the newly-combined Syracuse city squad last Monday afternoon, the Northstars found itself in a stalemate that lasted all the way to the bottom of the seventh inning, when one clutch hit proved enough to produce a 1-0 victory.
Though avoiding highly-touted junior left-hander Jeff Belge’s turn in the rotation, C-NS got all it wanted from Syracuse pitcher Brian Nolan, who mostly silenced the Northstars’ bats as he managed seven strikeouts and only allowed one walk.
C-NS’s own ace, Steven Theetge, was just as tough, limiting Syracuse to three hits, all singles, and only walking two while recording 10 strikeouts.
Entering the bottom of the seventh, it was still 0-0, and Nolan picked up two quick outs. Having got just two hits off Noland, the Northstars appeared headed for extra innings, by which point Theetge might be out of the game.
But then Dylan Frawley singled, bringing Stephen Kires to the plate. And Kires promptly belted a double to the wall that allowed Frawley to race all the way home with the game’s lone run.
Having kept legendary Syracuse coach Bob Southworth from his 700th career win, the Northstars visited Central Square on Thursday and had an easier time of it there, as McArdell’s power surge highlighted a 15-5 romp over the Redhawks.
Getting at least one run in each of the first six innings, C-NS saw McArdell crack a pair of home runs, notch two other hits and finish with five RBIs. He wasn’t alone, either, as Kires’ four hits led to three RBIs, with Mike Copani and Mike Sciore adding two RBIs apiece.
Weather permitting, C-NS would play Baldwinsville on Monday, 24 hours before the Liverpool encounter. Fresh from its work at Myrtle Beach, Liverpool began its local slate last Tuesday with a 2-0 home defeat to Auburn, the same team it lost to in last May’s Section III Class AA semifinal.
Each side had seven hits, but the difference was that the Maroons poked across single runs in the second and sixth innings, driven in by Stephen Bennett and Nick Petrosino, against Warriors starter Bobby Zywicki, who pitched a complete game.
Try as it could, Liverpool, despite Tom Bianchi and Michael Wright getting two hits apiece, could not get a run against Auburn ace Justin Valentino, who lasted six innings, striking out eight, before Bennett worked the bottom of the seventh and earned the save.
Turning around to visit West Genesee on Wednesday afternoon, the Warriors saw almost nothing go right in a 13-0 defeat to the Wildcats.
Fresh off rallying in the bottom of the seventh to beat Fayetteville-Manilus 6-5 two days earlier, WG used a run in the first inning and three runs in the fourth to take charge. A four-run fourth inning and five-run sixth inning followed for the Wildcats as Colin BeVard burned Liverpool for two doubles and five RBIs.
By contrast, the Warriors’ bats were silent. All it could manage was a pair of hits, one each by Anthony Sgroi and Rick Sisto, off Wildcat pitchers Ryan Greco and Nick Davis. Dillan Wilkinson, Andrew Dominic and Jonah Harder each pitched for the Warriors.
Just in time, though, Liverpool pulled out of that skid in a big way on Thursday afternoon, going to Fayetteville-Manlius and relying on its offense to outlast the Hornets 11-8.
Batting around in the top of the second, the Warriors scored six runs, eventually building a 10-2 lead by the fifth inning as it took advantage of five F-M errors. Sisto hit a home run, with Kyle Terzini getting three RBIs. Kyle Watson drove in a pair of runs as Wilkinson and Wright got one RBI apiece.
But on Friday, Liverpool lost, 2-1, to the same Syracuse side C-NS had beat earlier in the week. Tom Bianchi pitched well for the Warriors, only giving up single runs in the first and fourth innings and two hits while striking out six.
Trailing 2-0, Liverpool saw Zywicki drive home Sgroi in the bottom of the sixth, but it got no more despite accumulating 10 hits, two each by Sgroi, Sisto and Jonah Harder. Both of Syracuse’s pitchers, Ben Atkinson and Brian Nolan, escaped trouble to help get that 700th win for Southworth, whose team fell 2-1 to Baldwinsville a day after the C-NS defeat.
