The 1994 sectional playoff game between C.W. Baker High School and Liverpool High School is talked about in Central New York as the greatest high school baseball game in the area’s history.

Not only did the game end in a walk-off suicide squeeze and an ensuing bench-clearing brawl, but it also featured a future Major League Baseball All-Star throwing a complete-game shutout.

Led by senior right-hander Jason Grilli, C.W. Baker defeated Liverpool 1-0 that day at the now-demolished MacArthur Stadium. Now the closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Grilli has proven that Central New York is an underrated area for baseball talent.

While Grilli is near the pinnacle of the baseball world — the Pirates are currently tied 2-2 with the Reds in the National League Division Series and play Game 5 on Wednesday night in St. Louis — the local product has stayed close to his hometown roots and given hope to the next generation of CNY ballplayers.

“I think Central New York is a great area. A hidden area, so to speak,” Grilli said. “It’s not your powerhouse of course, like Florida and California are, but the Northeast in general, I think is more of a traditionally baseball area.

“Maybe I’m biased, but baseball is very prominent in New York state.”

Born in Royal Oak, Mich., Grilli moved to Baldwinsville, N.Y. when his father Steve pitched for the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, then affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays. The younger Grilli enjoyed growing up in CNY and said baseball will always be popular in the area because of the close proximity of the New York Yankees.

The field at C.W. Baker is enormous — 480 feet down the lines and 600 feet to straight away center. It’s so big that the field hockey team plays its games in the outfield. Nowadays, a temporary fence is used to shorten the distance to straight away center, but when Grilli pitched, those were the dimensions.

“This was the field,” C.W. Baker head coach David Penafeather says, adding that new brick dugouts and a new announcer’s press box have been added since Grilli graduated.

Grilli also played basketball for the Bees and was a model student, Penafeather said. After his senior season at C.W. Baker, Grilli was chosen in the 24th round of the 1994 MLB Draft by the Yankees, but instead he chose to attend Seton Hall. Three years later, he was taken No. 4 overall in the 1997 Draft by the San Francisco Giants.

“I probably would have gone to Syracuse had they had a baseball program,” Grilli said.

Almost 20 years after that now-infamous playoff game, Grilli was one of two CNY natives at the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field in New York. Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher and Cicero-North Syracuse High School alumnus Patrick Corbin finished 2013 with a 3.41 ERA and helped the Diamondbacks to a second-place finish in the NL West.

Like Grilli, Corbin was a high school basketball player during baseball’s offseason.

Because the CNY high school baseball season is reduced to a little more than two months, Penafeather said most of the athletes play other sports. But because players aren’t on the diamond year round, they are able to fine-tune their pitching repertoire, stay healthy and regain strength during the offseason.

“The only disadvantage was the weather,” Grilli said. “But it’s an advantage in a sense that it keeps guys from being overused.”

Now Penafeather is coaching another elite talent. Scott Blewett is the current ace at C.W. Baker and a potential first round pick in the 2014 MLB Draft.

There are nonstop comparisons between himself and Grilli, Blewett said.

“It’s a confidence booster,” Blewett said. “It’s good that they made it there [the All-Star game] because it carves a path for me to show that northern guys can really play baseball.”

Grilli’s father, Steve Grilli, is one of CNY’s other baseball professionals. He now owns Change of Pace sports bar in North Syracuse, where his Chiefs jerseys hang behind the bar.

Next to Steve’s Chiefs jerseys are four pictures of Jason, playing for the Giants, Tigers, Pirates and Team Italy at the World Baseball Classic. Three are signed with personal messages.

Jeff Lozoponi, the bar’s weekend manager, speaks highly of the kid he remembers occasionally helping out in the kitchen, especially during Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament basketball games.

“Now he’s a big baseball star,” Lozoponi said. “It hasn’t gone to his head. He’s still a humble young man.”

CNY isn’t the powerhouse area that South Florida, California or Texas are, and because of the weather it probably never will be. But every once in a while, it produces a gem.

“I’ve given a lot of other kids hope that they can make it out of Baldwinsville, New York, or any other small town in Central New York,” Grilli said. “If you have a dream, you can obviously attain it.

“You just have to be talented, good and work hard. But you’re not so far off the map living in Syracuse, New York.”

Published on October 9, 2013 at 12:47 am

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