And this is what the aftermath of a state championship can look like.
Fueled by a tremendous senior class and the pitching duo of Jeff DeStefano and Nick Antonello, the Warriors earned its first-ever state Class AA crown last June in Binghamton, topping Massapequa 4-1 in the title game at NYSEG Stadium.
Once the celebrations ended, the reality hit – 16 seniors were gone, and head coach Fred Terzini would have new names throughout its lineup once 2018 started.
Sensing this, Fayetteville-Manlius, with a much more stable lineup, came to Liverpool last Tuesday and handled the Warriors 10-0 after the first game in this three-game set was postponed by weather.
All that the Warriors could manage against Hornets pitcher Christian Maloney was two hits, one each by Mike DeStefano and Luke Harder, as Maloney struck out eight and only walked one.
Jordan Brown took the loss as F-M eventually gained 13 hits and scored multiple runs in four different innings. Sean O’Connor had three hits and three runs scored as he and Issac Blanford drove in three runs apiece.
Those struggles at the plate continued into Wednesday’s game with F-M, where the rained-out Monday game was made up and, again, Liverpool did not get on the board in a 6-0 loss to the Hornets.
In fact, the Warriors only managed a single hit, from Jake Wheeler, against F-M pitcher Tom Coleman, whose complete-game effort included four strikeouts and solid defense behind him.
Harder pitched four-plus innings, only allowing a single run in the third, before the Hornets got away with two runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth as Evan Crook and Dan Stapleton saw relief duty.
It wasn’t any better for Cicero-North Syracuse when it took the field for the first time in 2018 last Wednesday, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Baldwinsville Bees.
C-NS, whose upset at the hands of Fayetteville-Manlius in last year’s sectional tournament opened the door for Liverpool’ state title run, got a tremendous pitching effort from Jared Lonergan, who limited B’ville to four hits in five innings before Zach Emm worked the sixth inning in relief.
However, the Northstars could not convert any of its six hits (two of them by D’Ante Zapanta) into runs off Bees starter Jason Savocool, who constantly escaped trouble and got the only run he needed when Pat May singled home Matt Mercurio in the fifth inning.
These two sides met again on Friday at North Syracuse Junior High School. Again, it was close – and again, B’ville prevailed, prevailing 6-5 over C-NS in eight innings.
A three-run first inning held up until the Northstars scored four times in the bottom of the third to go in front. The Bees got back in front with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, only to have C-NS pull back even 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth.
However, B’ville did get to Northstars reliever Mason White for a run in the top of the eighth, and Jacob Marshall, pitching his third inning of relief, got the last three outs.
Prior to that, Jack Andres went five innings, striking out eight while allowing six hits and two walks. At the plate, Mercurio and Cam Williams each got three hits, with Williams getting two RBIs and May a double and RBI as Robinson added a pair of hits.
