ONONDAGA COUNTY – Snow one day, baseball the next.
Such was the case for Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool, who renewed their rivalry last Wednesday afternoon, barely 24 hours after another winter blast caused a rash of postponements.
Once again, it proved close and exciting, but the Northstars, on the strength of a big first inning and solid pitching from Sam Shaw and Battista Wood, defeated the Warriors 4-2 for its fifth consecutive victory.
C-NS wasted little time, getting to Liverpool pitcher Nate Benjamin for all four of its runs in the bottom of the first. Grayson Gidding, Anthony Testa, Logan Karwowski and Mike Rockwell each got an RBI as Corey Cartier doubled and scored a run.
Shaw saw that 4-0 lead cut in half when the Warriors scored twice in the top of the second, Dylan Hograth and Charles Anthony driving in the runs.
From there, though, Shaw tossed four shutout innings, overcoming eight Liverpool hits (two each by Hograth and Sam Michalak) with eight strikeouts before Wood pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the save.
Even bigger, from the C-NS standpoint, was what it did on Friday at Baldwinsville, where pitcher Bryce Zicaro kept the reigning sectional Class AA champions off the scoreboard and defeated the Bees 1-0.
For five innings, neither side was able to break the deadlock, Zicaro matched by B’ville’s Kai Girard. That changed in the top of the sixth, though, when Karwowski’s hit plated Cartier with the go-ahead run.
From there, Zicaro finished off his complete-game shutout, not allowing a hit until the seventh and giving up just one walk while recording six strikeouts in a tremendous display of control.
Prior to this, the Warriors, returning from their spring-break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, took on West Genesee last Monday and lost, 9-2, to the Wildcats.
A first-inning run briefly put Liverpool in front, but WG scored twice in the bottom of the first and kept going from there, adding seven unanswered runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Tyler Vivacqua singled and scored for the Warriors as he, along with Chris Baker and Andrew Contos, had Liverpool’s lone hits. Jacob Severson, Jake DePalma and Ryan Klementowski had two RBIs apiece for the Wildcats.
Then Liverpool would get its own chance against B’ville on Saturday afternoon and not meet the same success as C-NS did, falling 4-1 to the Bees.
After giving up a first-inning run, the Warriors tied it in the top of the second, Lance Phillips crossing the plate, but B’ville countered with two runs in the bottom of the second to go in front for good.
Jack Hoope worked four innings before Lucas Bradley saw a two-inning relief stint. Bees pitcher Aiden Milburn not only went six innings and held Liverpool to four hits, he got a home run, two singles and two RBIs at the plate.
