SU Sweeps In-State Foe
After getting swept by Notre Dame last weekend, Syracuse (20-17, 4-10 Atlantic Coast) recorded a sweep of its own on Wednesday in a doubleheader against Siena (9-17, 4-2 Metro Atlantic Athletic). The Orange tallied just two runs in its past three games, but crossed home 13 times en route to its 6-3 win in game one and its 7-0 shutout in the second contest.
Syracuse started off the day with a bang. After Siena pitcher Lauren Butts gave up three straight walks in the first, the Orange took advantage. In the Notre Dame series, SU loaded the bases multiple times, but struggled to take advantage. Against the Saints, the Orange capitalized in key moments. With bases loaded, Toni Martin’s RBI single drove home Alicia Hansen and Bryce Holmgren. On the following play, Lailoni Mayfield stole home to round out a three-run inning.
But, the Saints answered right away in the bottom of the inning. Lauren Sabihon hit a single off of AnnaMarie Gatti and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. After Gatti gave up a walk to Madysen Cossack, Isabelle DeChairo drove in both runners with a double to cut into Syracuse’s lead. But, Gatti recorded her first strikeout of the game to escape any further damage.
Heading into Wednesday’s doubleheader, senior Sammy Fernandez needed just one more hit to become Syracuse’s all-time base hits leader. Fernandez started off the second with a leadoff single for her 207th hit and for the new program record.
The Orange regained its three-run advantage in the fifth. Gabby Teran hit one out of the park and drove in Alicia Hansen for the 5-2 lead. Just to put things into perspective, at this point Syracuse had only recorded four home runs this season. And three of them came from the freshman.
As they did in the first, the Saints quickly responded in the bottom of the inning. Siena grabbed an unearned run with two outs, but Gatti tallied her fifth strikeout of the game to end the inning.
Syracuse added another run in the sixth, and once again, led by three runs. Sammy Fernandez recorded her second single of the contest and brought home Rachel Bukhardt for the final run of the game.
The Orange carried its momentum from game one into the second matchup. Alexa Romero led the way to start out the game, striking out the first three batters she faced. The sophomore ended the day with nine strikeouts and only gave up one hit in the shutout.
SU didn’t get on the board until the fourth inning. Similar to the first contest, the first run of the game started off of a walk by Alicia Hansen. Hansen eventually crossed home on Lailoni Mayfield’s sacrifice fly for the 1-0 lead.
The Saints tried to respond in the bottom of the inning as Isabelle DeChairo solved Romero for Sienna’s first hit of the game. But, that’s all that Romero would allow.
Syracuse’s offense proved to be too much to handle for Sienna as the Orange recorded six runs in the sixth. Teran opened up the dominant inning with an RBI single, and Hansen crossed home for the second run of the game. Jessica Heese then scored on a Siena fielding error to extend SU’s lead to 3-0.
Gabby Teran grabbed Syracuse’s fourth home run of the season in the first matchup, and Rachel Burkhardt recorded the Orange’s fifth home run in the second contest. Teran also crossed home on Burkhardt’s first home run of the season for the 5-0 advantage. But with just one out, Syracuse wasn’t done yet. Andrea Bombace’s double drove home Michala Maciolek and Miranda Hearn to cap off the six-run inning.
Hearn replaced Romero in the seventh and pitched a one-two-three inning to preserve the shutout. The Syracuse pitching staff gave up just three runs on six hits in the doubleheader, while Siena gave up 13 runs on 17 hits.
The Orange now holds a 5-1 advantage against New York state rivals this season. However, Syracuse is on an eight game ACC losing streak. SU looks to carry its strong non-conference play into its three-game conference series with Louisville this weekend.
@samrothman_ | sbrothma@syr.edu
