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With Syracuse down 6-1 in the sixth inning, Jolie Gustave replaced starter Alexa Romero to face Florida State outfielder Kiersten Landers. Romero had given up six runs that afternoon, all coming from five home runs. Landers swung on Gustave’s first pitch of the game and drove the ball beyond the center field fence, well into the trees, for the Seminoles’ sixth home run of the game.

No. 9 Florida State (29-6, 18-2 Atlantic Coast) hit a combined seven home runs on Saturday in a doubleheader sweep of Syracuse (15-13, 8-10), a team that’s now in the middle of a four-game losing streak. The Seminoles, who had been a power-hitting team in seasons past, had hit just 18 home runs in 33 games heading into the doubleheader. But on Saturday, they relied on home runs en route to 7-3 and 9-0 wins.

“There’s nothing we can do about balls that fly over the fence,” head coach Shannon Doepking said.

Seven runs on seven hits is all it took for Florida State to dismantle Syracuse in the first game of the doubleheader. Romero allowed six of those hits, including the five home runs. Romero had only given up five home runs all season, doubling that total in less than six innings.

Romero tends to rely on generating a lot of power on her high, rising fastballs, which led to four pop outs and three strikeouts through the first three innings. In her 5 2/3 innings, she allowed just three ground balls. But by the fourth inning, Florida State read her fastballs all too well, scoring four runs on three home runs.

“Alexa’s (pitch) has a lot more power,” Doepking said. “She just throws the ball hard, and we randomly mix some off-speed stuff in there, but you don’t see it very much, where Kaia is 50-50.”

Florida State generated more dangerous base-running while Oliver was on the mound in game two, with fewer balls into the outfield. With four fly-outs and 11 groundouts, Oliver relied mostly on her changeup to stump the Seminoles, but to Doepking’s surprise, Florida State was able to greatly capitalize on those pitches. The Seminoles hit four singles and five extra base hits off Oliver to drive in nine total runs.

Romero was caught in numerous situations that saw her throwing nearly 10 pitches. While she managed more strikeouts and outs in the field than walks or hits, the full counts and foul balls ramped up her pitch count, forcing an inconsistent string of fastballs later in the game.

“They’ve done an amazing job of just manufacturing runs,” Doepking said. “They run well. They put the ball in play, a little pressure on you. And that’s how they’ve won a lot of games.”

Syracuse hasn’t beaten the Seminoles since 2005, but Doepking still finds value in the two teams’ meetings.

“We have nothing to lose and everything to gain playing a team like Florida State because they’re supposed to beat us,” Doepking said. “That’s why they’re in the top 10, and hopefully we can continue to grow and learn something from playing a team like Florida State. But it was a disappointing day for sure for us”

Published on April 17, 2021 at 8:27 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu