Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Near no-hitters. A sub-two ERA which ranks top-15 in the NCAA. Twenty-five earned runs allowed entering Atlantic Coast Conference play. With a 16-6 record and 11 straight wins to start, Syracuse’s pitching staff has been unhittable in 2025.

Though, for program-best success like Syracuse’s thus far in 2025, it must be effective in other areas, too. Entering Friday, the Orange’s .332 batting average ranked top-30 in the nation and fifth in the ACC.

But in its doubleheader against No. 17 Duke (19-8, 4-1 Atlantic Coast) Friday, Syracuse (16-8, 0-5 Atlantic Coast) was swept 3-1 and 6-0 behind uncharacteristic offensive duds. SU collected just seven hits across 16 innings, leading to the sweep.

After three horrid offensive showings against then-No. 19 Stanford, Syracuse had a chance to break its 0-5 record against ranked opponents versus Duke. To try to end the skid, the Orange put Madison Knight on the mound.

Knight, who ranked second on SU with a 1.28 ERA, struggled in her most recent appearance on March 9 against the Cardinal. The ace allowed a season-high four runs in three innings of work. But against the Blue Devils, Knight returned to her dominant ways.

However, the first inning wasn’t friendly. After a 1-2-3 inning in the top half, Knight allowed a single and walk to put a runner in scoring position. Following a popout, Duke’s Kairi Rodriguez knocked an infield single to load the bases.

With SU’s infield playing back, Amiah Burgess’ soft groundout to Tessa Galipeau at first base drove in D’auna Jennings and gave Duke the early lead.

After the first inning, Knight settled in. From the second inning to the fourth, the junior allowed zero hit as Duke stranded two runners on base.

On the other side, Syracuse’s bats were slowly waking up. The second inning saw another 1-2-3 frame, but SU plated a runner in the top half of the third to even things up.

After loading the bases with Knight and Madelyn Lopez walks and a Galipeau base hit, Angie Ramos came to the plate with just one away. On the second pitch she saw, Ramos nailed a sacrifice fly to deep center field, which scored Knight and marked the Orange’s first run in 11 innings.

However, as Knight dominated in the circle, so did Duke’s Dani Drogemuller. The Pitt transfer entered Friday leading the Blue Devils with a 2.32 ERA through 63.1 innings pitched, and her command shined.

Entering the seventh inning, she’d allowed just four hits, and she shut down the Orange in the seventh, eighth and ninth.

Like SU, Duke also stayed relatively silent offensively. Though, with Knight already over 100 pitches, one mistake was all the Blue Devils needed. Thessa Malau’ulu singled through the right side in the bottom of the ninth, bringing Brooklinn Thomas to the dish.

The freshman had collected only five hits through 21 games and was yet to go yard. But as Knight missed low and in, Thomas clubbed it over the left field fence to give the Blue Devils the game-one win.

In game two, Syracuse placed Julianna Verni in the circle. Her 1.22 ERA ranked second in the ACC, but her opposition was Cassidy Curd, whose 73 strikeouts ranked third.

As the Knight-Drogemuller pitching duel ended, Verni and Curd seamlessly carried on the competition. In the first inning, Ramos lined a double into center field, but Curd quickly shut down Kelly Breen to retire the side. To match Curd, Verni went 1-2-3, including striking out Duke’s home run leader, Ana Gold.

Like the first, Verni and Curd prevailed in the second and third innings, allowing three combined base runners.

Curd continued her dominance in the fourth, forcing two popouts from Breen and Taylor Posner and a hard lineout from Laila Morales-Alves. However, when it was Verni’s turn to continue the duel, she couldn’t keep up.

In the bottom of the fourth, Aminah Vega singled up the middle, setting the stage for Gold. Rather than repeating her first-inning strikeout, Gold added to her home run total. On the fourth pitch she saw, Gold blasted it over the left field fence to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.

Duke wasn’t done, though. Rodriguez immediately squeezed a double down the right-field line, allowing Malau’ulu a chance to build its lead. This time, Malau’ulu took Verni’s pitch over the right-field fence, ballooning SU’s deficit to four.

After allowing one hit through the opening three innings, Verni had allowed four hits and four runs in the span of five batters. She settled down to stop the bleeding, but Syracuse couldn’t answer.

SU went down in order, and Duke plated two more runs across the fifth and sixth, sealing Syracuse’s second loss.

Though their pitching prowess was solid, as the Orange have shown all season they need both offense and defense to win games. And with just one combined run across 16 innings, Syracuse’s offensive futility proved decisive in its doubleheader sweep.

Published on March 14, 2025 at 9:43 pm

Contact: jordankimball28@gmail.com | @JordanKimball_