Friday afternoon against Wagner, Syracuse showed the power hitting version of itself that head coach Shannon Doepking has been hoping to see the entire season. From the opening inning, Syracuse hit, and hit for power.

Syracuse (6-11) defeated Wagner (2-7), 15-3, needing just five innings to down the Seahawks in the first game of four scheduled in the Colorado State Classic in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Orange entered Friday’s matchup off two straight losses by eight or more runs to Oklahoma State and Tulsa in last weekend’s tournament.

Doepking said she thought the Orange were “surprised” at having been beaten by the mercy rule four times already this season. On Friday, the Orange’s bats came alive, and they won a shortened game themselves.

The offensive explosion began in the opening inning, when Neli Casares-Maher rocked her second home run of the season, driving in Bryce Holmgren. With Alexa Romero back in the circle and back to full strength, she mowed down the Seahawks with three strikeouts in three batters.

Alex Acevedo and Lailoni Mayfield reached base in the top of the second off a single and a walk, respectively. Up to the plate came Toni Martin, who launched a three-run shot to left field. SU’s lead grew from two to five in one swing.

Romero ran into some trouble in the bottom of the second, allowing three consecutive baserunners, the last of which was a single that drove in Amelia Van Orman from second base. Then, the errors appeared for the Orange, an ongoing issue since opening day. Back-to-back errors by Romero and Casares-Maher allowed a run, and left two more in scoring position. After a sacrifice fly, the Orange’s lead had been cut to 5-3.

Facing a new pitcher in the third, Holmgren reached base on a hit by pitch, and Casares-Maher gapped a double. With two runners in scoring position, the Orange continued Friday’s success with runners on base as Hannah Dossett singled to left field, driving in two runs.

In the fourth, Casares-Maher notched her third extra-base hit of the afternoon, driving in two more runs. She finished the afternoon 3-of-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored. Dossett followed up Casares-Maher with a double herself, driving in two more runs to expand the SU lead to 13-3. The Syracuse steamrolling continued as Acevedo then hit SU’s third home run of the afternoon, a two-run homer to straight-away center field. SU later scored two more runs in the fifth off a sacrifice from Alicia Hansen.

Romero completed the five-inning complete game, notching her third win of the season. For the afternoon, five SU players had multiple hits, and Gabby Teran, Casares-Maher and Martin all had three hits.

The Orange will face the Seahawks again on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. before rounding out the weekend with two matchups with Colorado State, one Saturday, one Sunday.

Published on March 8, 2019 at 6:19 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo