Going into May, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool baseball teams kept eying each other, watching the wins accumulate and awaiting their eventual three-game series that starts on May 8.
Any game in that series would have to go a long way in order top the Northstars’ wild, 10-9, 11-inning decision over Baldwinsville last Monday at the Gillette Road complex, a series opener that went from day to night.
Three times in regulation, the Bees took the lead, going up 3-0, then 6-3, and finally 8-6. Each time, C-NS caught up, with Connor Stanton getting a series of hits in the early going, but saving his biggest blow for when it counted the most.
Trailing by that 8-6 margin in the bottom of the seventh inning, C-NS sent Stanton to the plate with one on and nobody out. On a 3-0 count, Stanton swung away – and sent it over the fence for a game-tying home run.
Three extra innings followed, with B’ville taking a fourth lead, 9-8, in the top of the ninth, and C-NS coming back a fourth time to tie it, 9-9, in the bottom of the ninth. Finally, the Northstars took its only lead – and the only one that mattered – with a run in the bottom of the 11th.
All told, Stanton went five-for-six, including that round-tripper plus three doubles. Dylan Frawley also doubled and drove in four runs, with Luke Dziados, Nick Spinella and Joe Mallaro getting one RBI apiece. Logan Persse pitched five innings of relief after Chris Cramer exited early, with Ben Christian going four innings and Mason White two innings.
After a Tuesday rainout of the second game at Baker High School, it got made up on Thursday, and C-NS lost, 6-1, to B’ville, who wouldn’t allow for any comebacks this time as the Northstars only managed five hits, two each by Spinella and Brendan Reilly as Frawley drove home Spinella with the lone run in the top of the third.
B’ville scored twice in the bottom of the first, all that it would need, but got away with a run in the fifth and three more runs in the sixth. David Cerqua and Zach Bush each got a pair of hits, with Cerqua, Frankie Levanti, Jarrod Williams, Carson Hayes, Anthony May and Alex Robinson earning one RBI apiece.
This led to Friday night’s series finale at NBT Bank Stadium, part of the annual “Strike Out Lou Gehrig’s Disease” Classic. And with Dziados on the mound, the Northstars would stifle B’ville in a 3-0 shutout.
Nate Valentine took his turn on the mound for the Bees and blanked the Northstars the most of the way – but only after C-NS had scored twice in the first inning on Nick Spinella’s single and added a run in the second, driven in by Michael Jenkins. Frawley and Stanton each added two hits.
Dziados surrendered five hits and two walks, but recorded six strikeouts and got solid defense behind him to keep the Bees off the board.
Meanwhile, Liverpool, back from its undefeated run in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, kept it up during its three-game series against Fayetteville-Manlius, starting with last Monday’s 14-3 win that, for most of the game, was far closer than it turned out.
In fact, it was tied, 2-2, before the Warriors tagged three Hornets pitchers for 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jake Evans, with two doubles and four RBIs, and Jonah Harder, with two doubles and three RBIs, led that charge.
Zach Pieklik had two hits and drove in two runs. Joe Zywicki, like Harder, scored three runs as he banged out a pair of hits and Zach Scannell added a double and RBI. Jeff DeStefano pitched 4 2/3 innings, striking out seven before Andre Leatherwood worked the last 2 1/3 innings in relief.
Then Liverpool won 11-9 over F-M in the second game on Tuesday, overcoming an early 5-1 deficit with four runs in the third inning and three runs in the fourth. Eventually, the Warriors’ lead grew to 10-5 before it had to withstand a late Hornets rally.
Harder went three-for-five, including a double, and scored three runs. Evans got three RBIs as Scannell hit a solo home run. DeStefano and Jacob Sisto also had RBIs as Tom Bianchi scored twice. Joel Ciciarelli pitched five innings before Owen Valentine and Jordan Brown battled through the last two innings in relief.
Completing its second sweep in as many series, the Warriors beat F-M 2-1 on Thursday, with Nick Antonello going six innings and allowing six hits, but never anything more than a single, along with a lone Hornets run in the sixth before Harder worked the seventh inning for the save.
Liverpool had just five hits to F-M’s six, but turned them into runs in the third and fifth innings. Pieklik had two of those hits, including a double, while Scannell earned an RBI. Harder and Zywicki had one hit apiece and scored those two runs.
