ONONDAGA COUNTY – Over the last two weeks of the regular season, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse baseball teams, already quite familiar with one another, would square off three times.
In the first of these games last Monday afternoon, Liverpool combined timely hitting with solid, consistent pitching to produce a 5-3 victory over the Northstars.
C-NS got in front 1-0 in the top of the second inning, only to have Liverpool counter with a decisive three-run rally in the bottom of the third off pitcher Battista Wood.
Single runs in the fifth and sixth innings followed against relievers Lucas Thelen and Justin Coyne, which provided Liverpool with its winning margin as the Northstars, trailing 5-1, scored twice in the top of the seventh before Aidan Blincoe got the final out.
Tyler Vivacqua pitched 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven and limiting the Northstars to four hits. At the plate, Liverpool got a home run from Jack Hoppe as Anthony Testone and Alex Evans had two hits apiece, Evans joining Chris Baker and Nate Benjamin in the RBI column. Jaden Zimmer and Hayden Staab scored runs for the Northstars.
They met again 24 hours later at the Gillette Road complex, but though the venue changed, the result did not, Liverpool again getting the best of C-NS, this one in a tense 2-1 battle.
A pitching duel between Benjamin and Northstars ace Bryce Zicaro unfolded, Liverpool getting a run off Zicaro in the top of the second, the Northstars answering an inning later as Staab scored on Shacory Willams’ single.
Quickly, Liverpool broke the 1-1 tie in the top of the fourth, having seen Chaz Anthony and Gianni Toscano drive in the runs that, thanks to strong pitching from Benjamin, proved enough.
Both pitchers threw complete games and only allowed five hits. Zicaro had seven strikeouts more than twice Benjamin’s total of three, but the Liverpool hurler only surrendereed one walk and got consistent defense behind him.
Once this ended, C-NS turned elsewhere and, trailing again Thursday against Fayetteville-Manlius, made quite a late comeback to edge the Hornets 3-2.
It took a run in the fifth inning and two runs in the bottom of the seventh to erase a 2-0 lead F-M built in the first two innings and reward Casey Gunnip for his complete-game effort as he held F-M to six hits.
Crystal, Zicaro and Andrew Davis drove in those late runs, C-NS only managing just four hits against three different Hornets pitchers, with MasonMingle, Lucas Thelen and Kyle Gancarz crossing the plate.
In Friday’s action, Liverpool lost, 8-3, to Elmira, from Section IV. A two-run second inning and four-run rally in the fourth put the Express in control as Hoppe took the loss. Benjamin and Lucas Crawford both drove in runs.
This was a prelude to a big Saturday doubleheader against Christian Brothers Academy, who started the season 10-0 before defeats early last week against West Genesee and Cazenovia.
Liverpool then gave the Brothers its third defeat in the opener, winning 9-3 largely on the basis of a six-run fourth inning that broke open a 0-0 game.
Adding three more runs in the sixth, Liverpool saw Vivacqua not only pitch 6 1/3 innings for the win, but drive in a pair of runs as he and Evans both scored twice. Hoppe piled up three hits.
CBA would salvage a split by taking the second game 20-5. a power surge that included home runs by Zach Mulhern and Jack Landau as Vivacqua went deep for Liverpool and got two RBIs, with James Tearney and Mike Henderson also driving in runs.
