Four outs from another premature ending in another quest for a Section III Class AA championship, the Cicero-North Syracuse baseball team made quite a rescue – and had the likes of Jake McArdell and Brad Hamilton to thank as it reached the sectional final.
McArdell was the central figure in the top-seeded Northstars’ sixth-inning rally, and Hamilton toughed it out through 3 1/3 innings of relief, as C-NS toppled no. 4 seed and defending champion Auburn 6-5 in a tense semifinal Sunday night at Onondaga Community College.
The win sent the Northstars to Wednesday night’s championship game, also at OCC, against no. 2 seed West Genesee, who thwarted no. 6 seed Liverpool’s title hopes in a 6-0 shutout during the first of two sectional semifinals that was played in cold, wet conditions.
There wasn’t much need to motivate C-NS for this game. Besides the berth in the finals at stake, the Northstars wanted to avenge two regular-season losses to Auburn, and sent senior right-hander Sam Spadafore to the mound in pursuit of that payback.
Just as importantly, C-NS had McArdell at the plate, and he didn’t waste time making an impact, legging out a first-inning RBI triple that scored A.J. Nesci with the game’s first run.
After Auburn tied it, 1-1, in the top of the second, Stephen Kires tripled in the second and trotted home on Mike Krick’s single. The Northstars kept that 2-1 lead as Spadafore kept getting into trouble and, at least in the early going, kept getting out of it.
But when the Maroons loaded the bases in the top of the fourth, C-NS called for Hamilton, normally a last-inning relief specialist, and he limited the damage to a single run on a groundout that tied it again, 2-2.
That was just a temporary reprieve, though, for in the fifth Auburn, who would strand 11 runners on base for the night, put together a three-run rally to move in front, 5-2, aided by a pair of C-NS errors, one on a potential rally-killing double play.
Kires cut the margin to 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth with a double that scored Steven Theetge and, more importantly, Hamilton settled down, tossing a scoreless sixth inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Auburn starting pitcher Justin Valentino retired the first two men he faced, inching his side closer to a return to the sectional finals. Then C-NS came up with its biggest rally of the season.
Nesci drew a walk, and Christian LaLomia singled. That brought up McArdell, and after a long discussion at the mound, Auburn chose to stick with Valentino to face McArdell and not go to its relief ace, Steve Bennett.
On a 1-0 pitch, McArdell delivered a single to right-center field that scored Nesci. When the ball bounced high, Nesci tore around third base and scored the tying run that made it 5-5.
Now Bennett entered, to face Theetge, who singled to right. Going at full speed, McArdell raced home and, with a nifty slide, beat the tag to score the go-ahead run.
Hamilton, with a one-run lead to protect in the top of the seventh, did so, recording the only 1-2-3 inning either side managed in the game and striking out Nick Petrosino to end it.
C-NS was now in the sectional final – but Liverpool was not waiting for them, unable to get on the board against a West Genesee side it lost to by margins of 12-0 and 6-2 during the regular season.
The Warriors nearly chased WG starter Will Randall in the top of the first. Michael Wright and Jonah Harder both walked, and after Harder got picked off, Jake Piekelik walked on four pitches, but Anthony Sgroi grounded out to end the threat.
Ryan Stott got the start for the Warriors, but gave up an infield hit to Randall in the bottom of the first, and Evan Reichel, who had tossed a complete-game shutout in WG’s 2-0 win over Baldwinsville in the AA quarterfinal three days earlier, singled home Randall with the game’s first run.
Two innings later, in the bottom of the third, Joey Vetter launched the Wildcats’ decisive rally by reaching first on an error. With one out, Stott hit Brian VanBeveren, and Colin BeVard singled home Vetter before Reichel got his second run-scoring hit, and a throwing error allowed BeVard to score and make it 4-0.
Any time the Warriors tried to answer, Randall shut it down. With two on and two out in the third, Jake Pieklik flew outt, and in the fourth, two Liverpool men were on base when Randall made Kyle Terzini look at strike three.
Another flyout in the top of the sixth stranded two more Warrior runners, and WG tacked on a pair of insurance runs against Liverpool reliever Tom Bianchi in the bottom of the sixth, Vetter contributing an RBI single and Randall doubling before Reichel drew a bases-loaded walk.
Liverpool finished its season with a 14-8 record, having lost in the same semifinal round of the sectional tournament as it did a year before to Auburn, whose reign ended at C-NS’s expense.
