AUBURN – Whatever expectations Stephan Bailey had taking over as Cicero-North Syracuse baseball coach after Kevin Rockwell’s long and successful tenure, they had to include making a serious run at the Section III Class AAA championship.
That’s exactly what the Northstars have done, punching its ticket to Sunday night’s title game by rallying past no. 6 seed Rome Free Academy in the quarterfinals and then, in Thursday’s semifinal at Falcon Park in Auburn, toppling no. 2 seed Utica Proctor 6-3.
It helped, no doubt, that the Raiders had to use up so much energy in Tuesday’s quarterfinal game, a 5-4, 12-inning marathon with Syracuse City that prevented Proctor from getting its pitching just where it wanted. Also, C-NS had seen the Raiders just one week earlier, winning by that exact same 6-3 margin with yet another late-game comeback.
The Northstars had starter Justin Coyne fresh and ready, and he threw a complete game, striking out nine and only surrendering a single walk while limiting the Raiders to six hits.
Unlike its quarterfinal win over Rome Free Academy, C-NS didn’t wait to go in front, getting single runs in the first and third innings for a 2-0 lead. After Proctor cut it to 2-1, the Northstars put up decisive two-run rallies in the fourth and fifth to bridge the Raiders’ two-run fourth.
Mason Mingle provided the spark, twice walking and adding a single and scoring three runs as Ben Watkins, Battista Wood and Joe Lukasiewicz also crossed the plate.
Though never getting more than a single off three Proctor pitchers (Josh Martinez, Parker Giruzzi and Reece Jantzi), C-NS saw Jaden Zimmer, Andrew Davis and Kyle Gancarz join Wood in the RBI column.
Then C-NS watched as no. 4 seed Christian Brothers Academy outscored top seed Baldwinsville 10-6 in the other semifinal, denying the Northstars a chance to face a Bees side it beat twice in the regular season.
Instead, in the title game this Sunday at 6 p.m. at Onondaga Community College, it’s the Northstars against the Brothers, against whom C-NS lost 11-7 late in April at Tom Dotterer Field, though it featured none of the pitchers that are likely to work in the sectional final.
