Jenna Caira became the first Syracuse pitcher and the first in Big East history to notch 1,000 career strikeouts as the Orange (38-12, 15-4) swept a three-game series against Connecticut (21-26, 9-13) during the weekend.

Caira reached the milestone in the bottom of the second inning when she struck out Huskies right fielder Marissa Guches looking.

Caira pitched four innings, but re-entered the game in the bottom of the 10th inning to preserve a 4-3 win after more late-game heroics against a conference opponent.

For the third time against a Big East team this season, Syracuse forced extra innings with a home run in the top of the seventh. Right fielder Lisaira Daniels tied the game at 3-3 with a solo home run to center field.

In the top of the 10th inning, second baseman Stephanie Watts hit a leadoff triple. Watts scored on a single by Julie Wambold, giving SU the lead and opening the door for Caira to record her first save of the season in the bottom half of the inning.

Caira retired the Huskies to give Syracuse the win.

Sunday’s win capped a dominant weekend for the Orange. Caira struck out 12 batters in a complete game shutout as SU won the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, 2-0.

In the second game, pitcher Stacy Kuwik had a no-hitter broken up in the sixth inning, but she still managed to win her 10th consecutive decision in a 5-2 victory.

Syracuse will play a nonconference doubleheader Tuesday at Niagara. The team then ends its regular season at home in a three-game series against South Florida.

Track and field

Jarret Eaton won his heat of the 110-meter hurdles and Flings Owusu-Agyapong ran the eighth-best 100-meter dash at Philadelphia’s Penn Relays on Friday.

Eaton’s 13.78-second finish was good for fifth place and is just 0.03 seconds short of his season high. Illinois’ Andrew Riley and LSU’s Barrett Nugent finished in first and second, respectively.

Owusu-Agyapong placed third in her heat with a time of 11.71 seconds, which tied her season high. She finished behind Auburn’s Kai Selvon and Miami’s Tarika Williams.

Senior Ieva Staponkute took fifth place overall in the triple jump with a leap of 11.99 meters.

Freshman distance runner Jessie Petersen finished second in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 35:25.78, which qualified her for the Big East championships. Lauren Kersjes, Brenna Symoniak, Alexandra Clinton and Kimberly

Spano all placed in the top 12 of the event.

Eaton, Jaquan Holland, Nathaniel Mercer and Jihaad Howard finished 18th in the 4×100 heats.
SU athletes who qualified will compete in next weekend’s Big East Outdoor Championships in Tampa, Fla.

Rowing

The Syracuse women’s rowing team earned four second-place finishes this weekend at the Big East Double Dual regatta in Indianapolis, despite harsh water conditions and a lightning delay.

In the grand final, the Orange crew finished .6 seconds behind No. 15 Notre Dame (6:41). 

Coxswain Kristina Herb led a crew of Gina Biascochea, Laura Adams, Ashley Marsh and Amy Ludovici to victory in a varsity four preliminary race, also against Louisville and Rutgers. They lost in the grand final to the Fighting Irish with a time of 7:55.7. 

In the second varsity four, the SU crew finished 11.4 seconds behind Notre Dame (7:56.8), finishing the 2,000-meter course in 8:08.2.

The regatta was the team’s final tune-up for the Big East championship from May 12-13 in Mercer, N.J., where SU will face Louisville, Notre Dame, Rutgers and West Virginia, with Iowa also competing.

-Compiled by The Daily Orange Sports staff

Published on April 29, 2012 at 12:00 pm