Syracuse falls to Rutgers, 11-10, in extra innings despite 17 hits
Jordan Phelps | Staff Photographer
Alexa Romero started for the Orange against Rutgers, but recorded just seven outs before getting pulled.
Syracuse (2-2) erased a 10-6 deficit in the sixth inning against Rutgers, but couldn’t complete the win. It lost to the Scarlet Knights (4-2), 11-10, in a nine-inning game filled with 28 combined hits on Friday afternoon to open the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Durham, North Carolina.
The Scarlet Knights and the Orange both scored a pair of runs in the first inning, but Rutgers pulled ahead 4-2 in the second. It didn’t surrender the lead until the bottom of the seventh when Syracuse tied the game at 10.
Freshman Kaia Oliver retired the side in the top of the seventh, holding Rutgers to a one-run lead. Lailoni Mayfield opened the bottom of the frame with a five-pitch walk. Toni Martin came in to pinch run and advanced to second on a Jude Padilla sacrifice bunt. Then, Rebecca Clyde came to the plate and hit a double to deep right field. Martin scored, but Clyde was thrown out trying to take third — the second out of the inning. SU sent three more batters to the plate, but couldn’t manufacture another run, forcing extras.
This came after a huge sixth inning for the Orange, scoring three runs to cut their four-run deficit to one. Clyde and Paris Woods both reached before Jamie Gregg hit a two-run double to start cutting into the Scarlet Knights’ lead. A Neli Casares-Maher single then brought another run home before the end of the inning.
Gregg led the Orange offense with four hits, while Casares-Maher and Clyde both had three. Eight of the nine starters had at least one hit.
Alexa Romero had a rough start to the game, giving up five runs — three earned, including a two-run home run — in 2 1/3 innings. Kaia Oliver took over in the third and proceeded to get the next two runners out.
Oliver struggled the rest of the game, though, allowing five runs in her next three innings. She gave up her first career walk in the ninth, advancing the winning run to second. The run scored on the next play — a double. In all, she allowed six earned runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Syracuse returns to the diamond Saturday to face Indiana and Rutgers, before playing Indiana again Sunday to finish the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Published on February 14, 2020 at 9:00 pm
