ONONDAGA COUNTY – No one in area Class AA baseball has played as well as Cicero-North Syracuse in the 2022 regular season. Whether it would carry over into the Section III playoffs remained to be seen.
As the top seed and SCAC Metro division regular-season champions, the Northstars have won several close games against its nearest rivals and had a clean sweep of Liverpool, too.
When the Northstars faced West Genesee last Tuesday, it again proved a tight one – and again it went in C-NS’s favor as it held off the Wildcats 2-1.
A first-inning run by the Northstars held up for a while as the game’s only tally, Casey Gunnip going 5 2/3 innings and limting WG to three hits and three walks.
Wyatt Braun, pitching for the Wildcats, was also tough, and kept it 1-0 until a C-NS run in the top of the seventh. That proved important when, in the bottom of the seventh, Eric Korzeniewski’s single drove home Aidan Leaf, but relief pitcher Battista Wood was able to pick up the final out.
C-NS’s ability to play well in close games was on display again a night later at the Gillette Road complex, where the Northstars used a late run to defeat Baldwinsville 3-2.
Having topped the Bees 1-0 and 5-1 the previous two times they had met, this third encounter saw Sam Shaw get staked to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, only to have B’ville tie it in the top of the fourth, the key blow Reid Rachwal’s double.
Shaw lasted until the sixth, striking out eight and allowing six hits, when Wood relieved him. Then C-NS got to Bees pitcher Aiden Milburn in the bottom of the sixth for the go-ahead run before Wood recorded the final three outs.
Three different players – Corey Cartier, Nick Klamm and Lucas Crystal – drove in the Northstars’ runs, with Mike Rockwell earning a pair of hits. Crystal, Carter King and Grayson Giddings scored the runs.
When Liverpool took on Baldwinsville last Tuesday, it was another close contest, but the Warriors lost, 5-3.
Liverpool took early leads of 1-0 and 3-2 as Charles Anthony got a pair of hits and scored a run, with Chris Baker adding an RBI.
But the Bees used three runs in the bottom of the fourth off Jack Hoppe to go in front. Adam Blincoe pitched two scoreless innings of relief, but the Warriors could not answer against Gavin Miller or reliever Matt Carner.
C-NS continued to tear through the homestretch Thursday, jumping all over Fayetteville-Manlius for six runs in the bottom of the first, all it would need in a 7-3 win over the Hornets.
Staked to all that run support, Zicaro went six innings and overcame seven hits and four walks to strike out seven. Jake Lukasiewicz doubled and got two RBIs, with Zicaro, Giddings, Klamm, King and Logan Karwowski also driving in runs.
But when Liverpool faced F-M on Friday it lost, 9-5, to the Hornets, who bolted out to an 8-1 lead by the third inning. In defeat, the Warriors got two hits and two RBIs from Lance Phillips as Alex House and Nate Benjamin also drove in runs and Baker scored twice.
At least on Saturday Liverpool closed strong, beating South Jefferson 9-2 as it batted around in the bottom of the fifth, scoring six runs to break a 2-2 tie.
Tyler Vivacqua’s long home run provided a highlight as he went three-for-four. Anthony added a pair of hits as Alex Evans drove in two runs, with RBIs also going to Baker, Dylan Hograth and Gianni Toscano.
The Class AA sectional playoff bracket had eight teams. As the top seed, C-NS meets no. 8 seed Rome Free Academy Tuesday in one quarterfinal at the Gillette Road complex, the winner to get F-M or Utica Proctor in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Liverpool, as the no. 6 seed, would try and unseat reigning sectional champion B’ville, the no. 3 seed, with a berth in the semifinals against West Genesee or Syracuse City at stake. Both semifinals on Thursday, and the title game next Sunday, May 29, will take place at Onondaga Community College.
