CENTRAL NEW YORK – Four outs stood between Cicero-North Syracuse from claiming the first-ever Section III Class AAA baseball championship, but it never quite got to that plateau.
Breaking out at the plate just when it counted the most, Christian Brothers Academy used a five-run sixth inning to rally and beat the Northstars 8-3 in Sunday’s sectional final at Onondaga Community College.
Just getting to this title game was already quite an accomplishment, C-NS first having to rally to beat Rome Free Academy in the May 21 quarterfinal before going to Auburn’s Falcon Park two days later and beating no. 2 seed Utica Proctor 6-3 in the semifinals.
It helped, no doubt, that the Raiders had to use up so much energy in its 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.
For once, 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 CBA 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, it was the Brothers, against whom the Northstars lost 11-7 late in April at Tom Dotterer Field. Kaden Kalfass, who didn’t pitch in that game, was on the mound for C-NS as CBA, who had knocked out Liverpool and Baldwinsville in the previous two rounds, in the sectional playoffs.countered with Ben Lovell,
What quickly emerged was a pattern where the two sides frequently threatened big innings but only partially delivered on them, keeping things close.
With two on and one out in the top of the first, CBA’s Jack Landau doubled to the wall, but the chase for the ball froze the runners, and only Riley Clemons-Butenko scored, with the Brothers unable to add to it.
C-NS answered in the bottom of the first, Carter King singling home Andrew Davis, but the 1-1 tie was broken in the second with another two-out RBI hit, this one a double by Riley Clemons-Butenko.
The Brothers loaded the bases in the top of the third with no one out. Harris lined it right at Zimmer, who stepped on second for a double play, and Ben Snyder popped out in foul territory, keeping it at 2-1.
Fired up by this, C-NS pulled back even 2-2 in the bottom of the third thanks to Zimmer, who walked, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on King’s sacrifice fly. The Northstars then loaded the bases with no one out in the fourth, pushing across a run when Zimmer hit a sacrifice fly to take a 3-2 lead.
Now, though, it was C-NS unable to get away. Tom Menar, relieving Lovell, got out of that fourth-inning jam and a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the bottom of the fifth when Mingle hit into a force play.
Then came the top of the sixth.
Harris led off with a walk, and Kalfass exited, replaced by Wood, who got two outs but gave up walks to Jimmy Kennedy and Clemons-Butenko that loaded the bases.
Cooper Marko was up. Connecting, Marko drilled a Wood pitch to the wall in left, clearing the bases. Mike Giamartino followed with an RBI triple and raced home on Landau’s single.
This, along with Kennedy’s RBI single in the top of the seventh, gave Menar the cushion to work the last two innings and secure a sectional championship, while C-NS saw its first season under head coach Stephan Bailey conclude with a 15-7 record.
