Alicia Hansen jogged into home plate with a smile as she was enveloped by the mob of teammates waiting for her. She was barraged with helmet taps, customary after hitting a home run.

As the group eventually dispersed and headed to the dugout, a voice behind Hansen questioned her in a shocked tone, “You’re a home run hitter?” Hansen didn’t know who said it but wasn’t surprised by their astonishment.

“I’m not the biggest home run hitter,” the junior said, laughing. “So, it was big for me to get a home run. I’m one of those hitters, I’m going to sprint until I see it over the fence, because I never know.”

The shortstop’s third-inning home run gave Syracuse (23-18, 5-11 Atlantic Coast) a lead it would never relinquish en route to a 7-1 victory over Niagara (10-25, 2-4 Metro Atlantic) on Wednesday. It was the first of two home runs in the game for the Orange, marking the first time all season that SU has hit multiple home runs in a game. After starting the season in a power-hitting slump with three home runs in its first 35 games, Syracuse has now hit six in as many contests.

The power surge has coincided with the Orange’s return to Syracuse after playing 33 of its first 37 games away from home. That includes Wednesday’s doubleheader, in which SU combined to hit three home runs and score 17 total runs in the sweep of the Purple Eagles.

“I think as a team we’ve found our stride a bit as the season goes on,” Bryce Holmgren said. “We’ve always hit better at home. It’s kind of ironic, because we don’t get to practice much at home, but … we’re just more comfortable here, you get to sleep in your own bed, the little things make a difference for us.”

A Holmgren hit by pitch set up another RBI opportunity for the Orange, thanks to Gabby Teran’s triple the next at-bat. Teran, who leads the team in home runs with three, hit a gap shot to right-center that originally looked destined to be a double. Head coach Mike Bosch tried to hold Holmgren at third on the play, but she ran through the sign after seeing that Teran was heading for third.

The relay throw was sent to third base but was mishandled by Niagara’s third baseman thanks in part to Teran’s slide. The ball skipped towards the Syracuse dugout, and Teran ran home to score.

“It pumps our batters up, pumps our entire team up,” starting pitcher Alexa Romero said. “To know that we have power right now and that our hitting’s on and that we’re gonna get runs.”

While Romero’s performance in the circle ensured that the Orange wouldn’t need many runs in order to win, the offense kept coming. The final two hits of the game were both of the extra-base, pinch-hit variety for SU.

First, Andrea Bombace batted for Hannah Dossett with a runner on first. She wasted no time with her opportunity, smacking an opposite-field home run to right center to push the Syracuse ahead, 7-1. The very next batter, Gianna Carideo, batted for designated hitter Jessica Heese and nearly replicated Bombace’s result. The backup catcher turned around a fastball to the right-center gap, this time one-hopping the fence and sliding into second for a double.

Bombace entered the game with just four hits in 33 at-bats while Carideo had just three hits in 32 at-bats, but the current power surge appears contagious for the Orange.

“It was a high-intensity and high-energy game,” Hansen said. “Every game we’ve had that everyone’s been involved energy-wise, it’s always been a great outcome for us.”

Syracuse has found its power stroke for the first time all season. With 10 games left on its schedule — nine coming at home — the Orange likely needs its newfound-trend for extra base-hitting continues.

“We were literally on the road for two months straight. It wears on you a little bit,” Bosch said. “They’ve had an opportunity here, past week and a half to get a little bit of rest. The familiarity of being home, your own ballpark, some things that go right instead of going wrong, all those play a factor, we’ll see if we can continue that the next week and a half.”

Published on April 18, 2018 at 9:33 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34