After a weekend of struggles at the plate, Syracuse bounced back with 14 runs and three home runs on Tuesday afternoon against Binghamton to win just its second game in seven tries.

Neli Casares-Maher and Hannah Dossett became the first pair to hit back-to-back Syracuse home runs since April 13, 2016. After those two swings, SU’s lead ballooned from three to seven. The Orange dropped two of their three games last weekend against last-place Pittsburgh and entered Tuesday afternoon’s game at Binghamton (15-25, 4-10 America East) looking to find an offensive rhythm.

SU scored just two runs in the last two games of the weekend series. In the first inning on Tuesday, Syracuse equaled that total. The Orange (20-25, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) jumped on the Bearcats early, scoring two in the first and cruising to a 14-0 blowout win in a five-inning shortened game.

Instead of throwing ace Alexa Romero, SU head coach Shannon Doepking opted to start Miranda Hearn, who continued her success from the weekend with a complete-game shutout, her first at SU. While Hearn walked five batters, she allowed just three hits, and no Binghamton baserunners reached past second base.

Eva Suppa | Contributing Digital Designer

The Orange were stifled by the change-up in both Saturday and Sunday’s games, but they had no problem spraying hits across the entire field Tuesday. Gabby Teran led off with a base hit to left field, advancing to second on an error. Hitting second, since senior Bryce Holmgren dropped in the lineup, senior Alicia Hansen tripled in Teran. Then, Lailoni Mayfield hit a sacrifice fly to score the second run from third.

In the third inning, SU had runners on the corners when Hansen took off for second. Teran, on third, was able to take home and both runners were safe. Then leading 3-0, Casares-Maher stepped to the plate with Alex Acevedo and Hansen on base. She hit her fourth home run of the season to deep center and was immediately followed by Dossett’s home run. The Orange took a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the third.

Holmgren led off the fourth with a double and Hansen drove her in with a single two batters later. After AJ Kaiser walked and Acevedo singled, Casares-Maher again came up with two runners on. And again, she homered to give SU a 12-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth, with SU already in position to clinch the game with the 10-run mercy rule, they added two more runs. Both Holmgren and Hansen recorded hits and runs, as they were two of three SU players to record three hits. Hansen, now back at center field with the return of Casares-Maher to the lineup, finished the afternoon with three runs, three hits and three RBIs.

The Orange travel to Atlanta this weekend for a three-game set with Georgia Tech. The first game is Friday at 4 p.m.

Published on April 23, 2019 at 7:16 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo