Stacy Kuwik had to get ready to finish the game she started.

Syracuse reliever Lindsay Taylor surrendered a three-run home run to Seton Hall’s Kristen Kaelin to tie the second game of Friday’s doubleheader in the sixth inning. In freezing weather – as Syracuse’s players scrambled to put on thick winter coats to combat plummeting temperatures – Kuwik was asked by head coach Leigh Ross and pitching coach Mike Bosch to return to the mound.

Kuwik, Syracuse’s starting pitcher in the game, stayed warm.

‘Coach Bosch came up to me and asked, ‘Are you ready for next inning?” Kuwik said. ‘I didn’t think twice about it. I just went out there and threw.’

In a weekend series that saw Jenna Caira pick up two wins and Carey-Leigh Thomas hit a walk-off home run in that second game, Kuwik’s dominant performance Friday was crucial to Syracuse earning a three-game sweep of Seton Hall. Kuwik struck out a career-high 12 batters and held the Pirates scoreless in eight innings of work in a 5-3, extra-innings win in the second game of the series.

After Kuwik kept Seton Hall off the board in five innings of work, Taylor took the ball in the sixth. But she allowed a three-run home run to Kaelin, which tied the game and Syracuse turned back to Kuwik to hold off SHU again. And she did until Thomas came through with the walk-off homer in the ninth inning.

Ross said Taylor ‘just didn’t have her stuff’ when she took over for Kuwik in the sixth inning. And just hours earlier, Caira hurled a complete game shutout, so the head coach couldn’t go to her ace.

Ross said she didn’t have a choice when Seton Hall tied the game. She had to send Kuwik back to the circle.

‘We put it all on (Kuwik),’ Ross said. ‘Sometimes you just go on your gut, and pitchers have to be ready. You never know when it’s going to happen, but you have to be ready for it.’

Kuwik proved ready for the challenge, pitching three more scoreless innings in relief.

Catcher Lacey Kohl called Kuwik’s performance her best yet. And with Caira on top of her game in the series, too, SU was too much for the Pirates to handle.

‘Jenna has the changeup, but when (Kuwik) gets out there, she’s up in the zone with a really strong fastball,’ Kohl said. ‘They do completely different things, and it can really throw hitters off.’

The strength of Syracuse’s one-two pitching punch was put to the test in the third game of the weekend series. Caira wasn’t as sharp Saturday as she was Friday when she pitched a two-hitter in a 2-0 win. In the series finale, Caira loaded the bases in the second and third innings before getting timely strikeouts.

Syracuse came through with a 10-run fourth inning to help the Orange cruise to a 12-1 victory. After 26 minutes passed between Caira’s last pitch in the top of the fourth and the start of the fifth inning, Ross decided to go to Kuwik to close out the game. She retired Seton Hall with ease, and the Orange earned a five-inning win.

Kuwik said she was ready to go in, even for just one inning, with Syracuse up by 10.

‘I’ll pitch whenever if it helps us win,’ Kuwik said.

That’s what makes Ross’ No. 2 pitcher so valuable. While Caira is the unquestioned ace, Kuwik provides the Orange with a reliable second option. And she showed that with her performance during the weekend to help SU get the sweep.

‘I give (Kuwik) a lot of credit for starting a game in Friday’s weather, getting pulled with a three-run lead and then having to go back out there, ‘ Ross said. ‘Mentally, that’s a lot on her. She’s proved she could handle it.’

nctoney@syr.edu

Published on April 8, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets