Two strikes were on the board and a runner on second. Freshman Neli Casares-Maher was in the box. She already had one hit off Boston College pitcher Allyson Frei two innings prior to drive in SU’s first run of the game.

Once again, Casares-Maher hit one off of Frei, sending the ball to the fence where it just barely missed being a home run. Casares-Maher sprinted to second and Michala Maciolek, the runner on second, scored the Orange’s second, and last, run of the game.

The inning would end one batter later when Sammy Fernandez grounded out to shortstop.

Syracuse (16-14, 4-7 Atlantic Coast) left seven runners on base against Boston College (15-15, 5-3 ACC) in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The Orange was unable to generate a big hit to capitalize with runners on base in the 12-2 loss to close out their home-opening day.

“That’s kind of been the story of a lot of our season,” head coach Mike Bosch said, “Looking for that big hit, you know getting the bases loaded and maybe getting a gap shot or even at some point a home run.”

Junior Bryce Holmgren reached base in all three of her plate appearances, opening the contest with two consecutive walks.

In the fifth inning, with junior Alicia Hansen on base, Holmgren hit the ball toward second baseman Olivia Markopoulos. Markopoulos tossed to Eagles’ shortstop Chloe Sharabba who got Hansen out at second. Sharabba threw to first to make the double play but was a fraction late as Holmgren touched first.

The next two batters both struck out, leaving Holmgren on base for the third time.

“I think today you got to see a very good example of them capitalizing on the mistakes that we made and when it came time for them to make a big play, they did,” Holmgren said. “While the score doesn’t necessarily reflect that … we got runners on, we moved them and sometimes you come up with a big hit in that situation and sometimes you don’t.”

In total, SU put nine runners on base with four hits, four walks and one batter hit by a pitch. From those nine runners, two scored.

Shortstop Sammy Fernandez ended two of the innings with runners on base, including the bottom of the second. Casares-Maher was on first and Hannah Dossett on third when Fernandez grounded out to shortstop.

Prior to Fernandez’s at-bat, Casares-Maher hit a line-drive deep into the outfield. The ball was thrown in, reaching home plate seconds after SU outfielder Toni Martin put the first run on the board for the Orange.

“I think that we all want to do things individual but we don’t think about the bigger picture of it,” Hansen said. “So we all want to go up to the plate and we all want to get a big hit but we need to think about the bigger picture and that’s that there is a runner on base and I need to get a job done for my team.”

Published on March 31, 2018 at 7:54 pm

Contact Kaci: klwasile@syr.edu