A spirited high school baseball rivalry renewed itself once more as Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse gathered at the Gillette Road Complex to start the 2009 season. As it turned out, the Warriors would have a decided edge in this non-league encounter, leading all the way and beating the Northstars 11-5. Both Liverpool and CNS have proven to be perennial Section III Class AA championship contenders in recent years, though they’ve watched as Utica Proctor snagged each of the last two sectional titles. So as Proctor opened with a 7-6 loss to its main rival, Rome Free Academy, Liverpool jumped on CNS and never surrendered the advantage. Julio Martinez, the game’s first hitter, smacked a double to the right-field gap, then scored on a two-out error. Liverpool then made it 3-0 in the second inning, only to have CNS counter with two runs of its own in the bottom of the second. If any move proved decisive, it came in the top of the third, when the Warriors tagged Northstars pitcher Grant Nadeau for four runs, two coming home on Mike Parsons’ single. Again, CNS would inch closer, moving within 7-5 in the bottom of the fourth on Matt Dykeman’s two-run bloop single. Again, Liverpool would answer, getting three runs in the top of the fifth, two coming when Martinez doubled. All told, Martinez had three RBIs, while teammate Mike Weakley drove in two runs. Tom Everson and Dan Cerniglia each had one RBI. In defeat, Riley Moonan led the Northstars with a double, triple and two RBIs. Pat Brown started on the mound for Liverpool, as he and Cory Folk both saw three innings of work before Vince Valentino worked the seventh inning to wrap it up. T.J. Jaquay, Rob Rinaud and Mark Rinella all saw relief duty on the Northstars’ behalf.