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The Orange were in striking position. In the bottom of the eighth with the score tied at two apiece, they loaded the bases after back-to-back singles from Angel Jasso and Kelly Breen. then a walk issued to Laila Alves. Taylor Posner stepped up to the plate, with the chance to walk it off.

Facing a full count and two outs, Posner sailed a flyout into center field and Syracuse was left unsatisfied. In the next half-inning, Boston College’s Nicole Giery blasted a solo home run off Madison Knight and was followed by a three-RBI double from Zoe Hines. The offensive issues had finally caught up with Syracuse, which failed to rally in the bottom of the ninth.

In game two of its final regular season Atlantic Coast Conference series, Syracuse (23-24-1, 7-14-1 ACC) fell to Boston College (23-28, 5-18 ACC) 6-2 in a grueling, nine-inning affair. Knight led the Orange with an 8.1 inning performance, leading the Orange out of a plethora of dire situations to keep them in control for most of the matchup. SU’s offense, however, struggled throughout and provided a limited amount of insurance for Knight as it faltered with runners in scoring position.

In her 19th start of the season, trouble arose for Knight in the first, as she walked leadoff batter Giery on a long, nine-pitch plate appearance. Then, after Knight forced a fielder’s choice groundout, Hannah Slike laced an off-the-wall double into the right field corner, giving the Eagles an early 1-0 lead.

Meghan Schouten drew a walk in the next at-bat, putting Knight in a jam with runners on first and second. But the freshman responded, retiring Aleyah Terrell on a grounder and closing the inning by striking out Hines.

SU got off to a hot start in its first at-bats. Madelyn Lopez walked and moved over to second off a wild pitch from BC’s Susannah Anderson. That brought Jasso up to the dish, who got into a battle against Anderson. After working a full count, she fouled off three pitches in a row, fighting to stay alive.

On pitch No. 10 of the at-bat, Anderson placed it on the low, outside corner of the strike zone. Jasso extended her bat, squared the ball up and launched a two-run home run into center field, which put the Orange up 2-1.

Knight got into another tough spot in the second inning after Maddy Carpe doubled and advanced to third off a passed ball. With just one out and Carpe ready to cross home, Kali Case was called out on interfering Alves at catcher, then Giery slashed a ground ball to Ryan Starr at short, who tossed it over to first to end the half-inning.

Syracuse’s offense went cold after Jasso’s homer as it left two runners on in the second, and then went down in order each of the next two frames. Through innings 3-4, Knight rung up three Boston College hitters and allowed no runs, keeping the Orange in the driver’s seat.

In the fifth, Knight fought through the Eagles’ attempt to come back. After leading off with a strikeout, Slike ripped a base-hit into left-center field. Knight quickly silenced the away dugout and K’d up Schouten swinging on a 1-2 fastball. BC wouldn’t go away easily, as pinch-hitter Mia Bueno took a base on balls after a patient, swingless plate appearance, setting up Hines with runners on first and second in a two-out situation.

Hines worked a 3-2 count on Knight and on the seventh pitch, she struck out swinging. It was Knight’s seventh strikeout of the day and fourth straight scoreless inning. In the bottom half, Rebecca Clyde lost on a full count, grounding out to Anderson. Then on back-to-back pitches, Starr and Tessa Galipeau were retired, which thrusted Knick back into the circle on short rest as Syracuse failed to register a baserunner for the third inning in a row.

For the first time all afternoon, Knight put together a perfect frame in the sixth, sitting down the Eagles in order capped off by forcing Case to hit a dribbler toward Clyde at third base. And at last, the Orange reached base for the first time since the second inning after Jasso beat out an infield single. But Syracuse couldn’t take advantage of Jasso’s timely knock, as Alves flew out to left field, ending the inning.

The offensive problems finally caught up to Syracuse in the seventh frame. Knight had a chance to end the game if she could fire her sixth scoreless inning in a row. With two outs down and a runner on first, Schouten hit a liner into right field that Lopez reached up to grab, but couldn’t come down with it. The ball trickled to the wall and Boston College plated the game-tying run, sending the two teams into extra innings.

Even with her pitch count well over 150, Knight trotted back out to the circle for her eighth inning of work. She efficiently got out of the frame and faced no trouble, forcing two groundouts and a lineout for a 1-2-3 inning. But the Orange continued to disappoint on the offensive end, as they dropped their second straight to the Eagles.

Published on May 6, 2023 at 5:24 pm

Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews