Before it even took the field for the Section III Class AA playoffs, the Liverpool baseball team got the biggest break possible – and didn’t mind one bit.
Two-time defending champion Cicero-North Syracuse, the no. 2 seed, was stunned at home by no. 7 seed Fayetteville-Manlius 3-1 in Tuesday’s AA quarterfinal at the Gillette Road complex, quashing the widely assumed notion that C-NS and Liverpool were bound for a championship-game rematch of 2016.
Having gone 7-11 this spring, F-M was only eligible because Section III waived the rule that said one had to win 40 percent of its games to qualify. But the Hornets had beaten C-NS 2-1 in 10 innings on May 4 in the midst of a three-game series where it had lost the other two games to the Northstars.
Now, in their sectional rematch, F-M sent Colin Sommers to the mound to oppose C-NS ace Luke Dziados. Sommers gave up a Connor Stanton double and Dylan Frawley RBI single in the bottom of the first inning, but then blanked the Northstars over the next five frames, allowing just two hits overall and getting error-free defense behind him.
Dziados cruised through his first six innings of work, taking a 1-0 lead to the top of the seventh F-M loaded the bases with hits from Mitch Seabury and Gary Smith, plus a walk to Steve Laurie, which brought up Blanford with two outs.
With C-NS one out from advancing to the semifinals, Blanford connected on a Dziados pitch and found the gap, his double scoring Smith, Laurie and Seabury.
Suddenly with a lead, F-M gave the ball to Kyle Walters in the bottom of the seventh. Walters, whose great relief pitching was a key part of that earlier 10-inning win over C-NS, gave up a one-out single, but used back-to-back strikeouts to close out the Hornets’ biggest win of the season.
Liverpool accepted this news with great glee, but knew its own work was just beginning as, on Wednesday, it faced its own sectional quarterfinal at home against no. 8 seed Utica Proctor, who had blanked Central Square 13-0 the day before to get this far.
The Warriors, unlike C-NS, survived this round, beating the Raiders 6-1 – but it wasn’t easy.
Proctor constantly threatened against Liverpool starter Jeff Destefano, loading the bases three times in the first six innings, yet only scoring a single run in the top of the first as the Warriors made the Raiders strand 13 runners on base, twice getting out of trouble with double plays.
Meanwhile, Liverpool capitalized on five Proctor errors, scoring twice in the bottom of the first and single runs in four straight frames starting in the third inning. Joe Zywicki had three hits and scored twice, with Jake Evans and Zach Scannell each getting two hits. Jonah Harder doubled and drove in a run as Owen Valentine added an RBI.
For the sectional AA semifinal Thursday at Onondaga Community College, Liverpool met up with no. 5 seed Baldwinsville, who had downed no. 4 seed West Genesee in its quarterfinal.
With Nick Antonello’s solid pitching and timely hits, Liverpool knocked out B’ville 7-3, gaining a bit of payback against Bees ace Cameron Morrissey, who had beat them 7-2 in the series between the two neighbors a week earlier.
Here, with a second shot at Morrissey, the Warriors quickly grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second and took charge with three runs an inning later. Then it answered B’ville’s first run in the top of the sixth with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Meanwhile, Antonello did it all, from pitching a complete game where he held the Bees to four hits and earned nine strikeouts to generating a pair of RBIs at the plate. Evans had two hits and two runs scored, while Destefano and Zach Pieklik each had a double and RBI. Tom Bianchi singled, walked twice and drove in a run.
Just before this, F-M, who had knocked out C-NS, made its own exit, falling 4-1 to Rome Free Academy in the other semifinal, meaning the Black Knights will take on the Warriors Sunday night at 7 p.m. at OCC win the sectional AA title at stake.
