Having started its season with back-to-back shutout defeats to Fayetteville-Manlius, the Liverpool baseball team knew that any hopes of defending its Section III and state Class AA titles would need to get going soon.

And if it didn’t happen last week due to more bad weather, the Warriors would need to get its fine-tuning done when it made its annual trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a quartet of games during the school break.

Meanwhile, Cicero-North Syracuse, who had lost twice to Baldwinsville the week before, broke into the win column last Wednesday with an 8-0 shutout over the combined Syracuse City team.

This proved a showcase for Northstars pitcher Mason White, who in six innings of work held Syracuse to three hits, not surrendering a walk while recording five strikeouts. Joe DeGroot worked the seventh inning in relief.

C-NS waited until the third inning to get on the board, scoring twice there. Three-run rallies in the fourth and seventh innings followed as Kyle Alberici led the way with two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs.

Joe Mallaro doubled, walked twice and scored a pair of runs, with White adding an RBI as he, along with D’Ante Zapanta, Drew Bristow and Tim Schinto, scored one run apiece.

Then C-NS really broke out on a sunny Saturday afternoon, bashing Oswego 28-3 in a game shortened to five innings by the mercy rule.

The damage included a 13-run third inning and an eight-run fifth inning, with five runs in the fourth as Zapanta hit a home run, doubled, notched two other hits and had a career-best five RBIs, also scoring four runs.

Mike O’Connell doubled twice as he and Tim Taladay both drove in three runs. Bristow, Alberici, Mike Weiczorek, Mason White and Kaith Kuss each drove in two runs as Schinto and Mallaro each walked three times.