Syracuse (15-8, 4-2 Atlantic Coast) won its second-straight ACC series to open the conference slate, beating Virginia (9-19, 1-5) 9-6 in nine innings on Sunday in Charlottesville, Virginia.

After dropping an 11-inning thriller to the Cavaliers on Saturday, the Orange held on after taking its extra innings lead in today’s rubber match. Miranda Hearn started for SU, going three innings and giving up two runs on three hits. AnnaMarie Gatti came on in relief of Hearn, and she earned the win after grinding through the final six innings.

Bryce Holmgren opened the scoring in the top of the first, doubling home Alicia Hansen after her leadoff walk. The score stood until the bottom of the third, when the Cavaliers got on the board. Hayley Busby’s solo home run to left field knotted the score at one and a batter later Danni Ingraham put Virginia ahead with a round-tripper of her own.

The Orange had an answer in the fourth inning, however, due to UVA’s Lacy Smith losing control on the mound. After a single and two walks loaded the bases, Smith hit two batters in a row to give Syracuse back the lead. Gatti replaced Hearn in the circle in the bottom of the inning and started it well, earning two outs after a leadoff single. But it went downhill from there, as a hit by pitch, wild pitch and error led to two Cavaliers runs and Virginia went back on top.

Two singles, a walk and an error tied the game at four and forced UVA to change pitchers, but the SU onslaught didn’t stop there. Hearn singled through the left side and got into a run down between first and second base, allowing Lailoni Mayfield and Neli Casares-Maher to score. Going into the bottom of the fifth, Syracuse owned a 6-4 lead.

That’s when Smith took over offensively, hitting a leadoff home run to cut the deficit in half and tying the game the next inning with an RBI groundout. The Orange loaded the bases in the sixth with one out, but three consecutive batters failed to get the ball out of the infield and the game stayed tied.

Two scoreless innings brought the game into the top of the ninth, when Hannah Dossett led off the frame with a walk. A wild pitch advanced her to second and two batters later Gianna Carideo drove her home, hitting a double to left center. A Toni Martin walk and a passed ball gave SU runners on second and third with Hansen up, and the center fielder didn’t disappoint. The junior doubled to right field, driving home Carideo and moving Martin to third. Martin scored the next at-bat, when a Sammy Fernandez sacrifice bunt pushed the Syracuse lead to three.

Three walks in the bottom of the ninth made things interesting for the Cavaliers, but Gatti managed to get out of the frame unscathed to earn the win.

The Orange will travel to Albany on Wednesday for a one-game pit stop against the Great Danes before heading to Florida State next week for a series against the Seminoles.

Published on March 18, 2018 at 3:27 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34