SU sweeps Gamecock Invitational Day 2 with wins vs. Binghamton, Winthrop
The Orange downed Binghamton 4-3 before mercy-ruling Winthrop 11-2. The sweep improves SU’s record to 2-2. Angelina Grevi | Daily Orange File Photo
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It’s hard to picture a worse season-opener than Syracuse had Friday.
The Orange dropped their first game of the season, 5-1 to Binghamton, before getting mercy-ruled in a five-inning 15-2 trouncing by South Carolina.
The losses marked the worst opening day SU has had since 2007, when it lost 14-4 and 0-11 to UCLA and Arizona State. Even then, the Orange have never allowed a 15-run game in their first two matchups.
Madison Knight walked in her only plate appearance against Binghamton. When she took the mound against South Carolina, her eight earned runs across 2.1 innings amounted to a staggering 24.0 game ERA.
Yet, on the heels of those losses, it was Knight who remained unfazed. She took both the pitching circle and the batter’s box once more. Knight’s six strikeouts spearheaded Syracuse’s (2-2, Atlantic Coast) response to its defeat with a 4-3 win over Binghamton (1-3, America East). Just a few hours later, she hit a tide-turning double and home run as the Orange drubbed Winthrop (0-2, Big South) 11-2 in six innings.
In its 5-1 defeat to the Bearcats, SU’s geriatric offense was its downfall. The Orange recorded a paltry 4-of-24 hitting, while Binghamton’s lineup notched nine across 30 at-bats Friday.
The opposite was true Saturday.
As soon as Knight shut the top of the first inning with three consecutive outs, Syracuse came to life at the plate. Jadyn Burney and Vanessa Flores both went down center — the first two of seven hits for the Orange. Burney promptly stole third, preparing for Knight to take the box.
Knight singled up the middle after Binghamton’s Olivia Kennedy served her three consecutive balls, opening the scoring 1-0. It was the last time Knight would get the chance to log a hit against the Bearcats.
Kennedy and Taylor Cawley walked SU players 11 times. Knight only gifted one Bearcat first base.
Kaimi Tulua walked on a 4-1 count, loading the bases for the Orange at the end of the first frame of play. Kennedy escaped the first inning jam by striking out Kendall Gaunt and getting Milija Seaton to line out, but she found herself in the same situation by the end of the second.
With Madelyn Lopez on second and Vanessa Flores on third, Knight walked, leaving Tulua, SU’s third most consistent hitter in 2025, with the job of cleaning up the bases while on two outs.
Tulua struck out swinging, and once again Kennedy and the Bearcats wriggled out of seemingly imminent SU scoring.
Before Kennedy’s second inning strikeout of Tulua, a Lauren Payne double drove in the Bearcats’ first run. After the strikeout, Binghamton’s Emma Lawson did the same to drive in two more in the top of the third inning.
The score remained over the subsequent three frames. SU had no answer to Binghamton, and the Orange’s attacks were limited to routine flyouts and groundouts.
When Bearcats replaced Kennedy with Cawley in the bottom of the fourth, the freshman took her team to the sixth inning without ever allowing SU to sniff third.
Then the walks resumed.
After getting a free base, Burney, as she had done in the first, promptly stole the next base in front of her. Then, after a throwing error by Binghamton’s catcher, Elisa Allen, Burney rounded third before touching home.
Cawley closed out the sixth, and Knight responded by only giving up a single hit in the top of the seventh. By the time SU readied to bat again, its afterburners were already on.
Seaton and Weaver singled before Taylor Davison walked. Fielder’s choice kept the Bearcats alive for one more round, getting the third base runner out instead of Lopez at first.
Burney hit a single to center field on the very next pitch. Finally, the third time an inning ended with bases loaded, SU executed.
Winthrop didn’t put up the same fight.
Although both sides began slowly, the Orange hit their stride after a Gabby Lantier walk and a subsequent Lopez double put the Orange on the scoreboard at the top of the third inning.
Davison followed suit in the fourth with a double of her own to give Sophia Taliaferro the score, before Seaton’s sacrifice fly brought Knight home.
A fielding error from shortstop Grayson Buckner dug Winthrop’s hole another run deeper, and Knight’s shot over the left field wall just about buried the Eagles 6-0.
Throughout their burial, the Eagles had no response. Only Buckner had a hit before the fifth inning. Winthrop never got a runner past second. Jackie Pengel, SU’s pitcher, hadn’t faced over five batters in any inning going into the bottom of the fifth frame.
Winthrop attempted to climb out. Emma Roberson walked and stole second. Rebecca Amos singled. Then, Darrah Nickens walked to load the bases.
The sequence forced SU to replace Pengel — who had thrown 90 pitches and three strikeouts — with Sydney Jackson. Jackson only let Winthrop score two as she closed out the inning, and the Orange made sure they crushed any remaining hope of a comeback.
SU scored five in the top of the sixth inning. A Flores single drove home a pair. Knight’s double did, too. After Winthrop’s Maddie Wiant let a wild pitch loose, Knight crossed home.
The Eagles had no answer. By the end of the frame, the umpires called the game off.
The Orange, who had been mercy ruled 24 hours earlier, found themselves on the other side. They earned their first mercy-rule win and sweep of the season.
