Syracuse allows 4 runs in 7th inning in 7-6 loss to Boston College
Syracuse lost a three-run seventh inning lead to fall 7-6 to Boston College in its final game of a three-game series. Zabdyl Koffa | Contributing Photographer
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Julianna Verni has two sides.
One is a sharp sword, her dropballs and riseballs slicing past hitters’ futile attempts like she did when she dispatched Boston College with 18 combined strikeouts on Friday and Saturday.
The other side? Less of a blade and more of an overused, mistrung bow, her hard shots missing high, wide and in the dirt.
Against Boston College, Verni’s two seventh-inning wild pitches gave the Eagles (12-29, 3-12 Atlantic Coast) the 7-6 edge over Syracuse (14-17, 3-10 ACC), completing a four-run comeback. Janis Espinoza terrorized the Orange, finishing 3-for-3 with one double and two RBI. She capitalized on a three-pitcher Syracuse carousel, logging a hit against each.
It started with Jackie Pengel.
After Madelyn Lopez and Vanessa Flores knocked singles in the top of the first but failed to make it home, Doepking handed Pengel her second start in ACC play. It was a fitting choice, considering Verni and Madison Knight’s 186 and 102 pitches across the weekend’s first two games — both contests where the Orange dispatched the Eagles.
But the senior ran into trouble early. She attempted to paint the inside of the box, but instead walked BC’s Emma Knight in four pitches, allowed an Abby Ptak single and plunked Adriana Martinez.
Then came Espinoza, who homered Saturday. She whacked a deep sacrifice fly that sent Lopez to the warning track. Although the Syracuse centerfielder came down with the out, the knock plated Knight.
But Pengel wasn’t out of the woods yet. With runners on second and third, Pengel aimed for the inside corner. She’d done it before, which ended with a run after a Tavye Borders walk and Holly Paharik hit-by-pitch.
Pengel eventually found her rhythm afterward — striking out BC’s Nicole Riddell in three pitches — but the damage was already done.
Syracuse never trailed in Games 1 and 2. Now it had to dig itself out of a hole.
Pengel rallied back in the bottom of the second, logging a 1-2-3 inning, after the Orange also came up empty. But her problems returned in the bottom of the third.
Following another frame where Syracuse failed to make a dent, Pengel walked BC’s leadoff hitter, her third free pass of the afternoon. Doepking quickly replaced Pengel with fellow senior Rose Cano, but the move was less grounded in past results than her initial decision to start Pengel.
As a hitter, Cano’s .318 average ranked second on the Orange, but she’d only pitched five innings and sported an ERA of 7.00 entering Sunday. Her 1.8 walks plus hits allowed per inning ranked near the bottom third of Division I pitchers. And her struggles persisted.
The only blip in Cano’s first inning came directly after the substitution. Espinoza’s second RBI of the day plated Ptak, extending BC’s lead to three.
Cano sprang into action. She struck out Borders, then sprinted and dove to catch Paharik’s subsequent pop-up. A Riddell foul out later, and the Orange found their footing.
Lauren Fox reached first on an error by Espinoza to lead off the fourth, before Kendall Gaunt smoked a double into right-center field, splitting the gap and plating Fox. BC replaced Kelly Colleran with Halie Pappion, who limited the damage to one run, but the game’s tide had turned.
BC then logged four hits across the fourth, fifth and sixth, but Cano and the Orange thwarted any chance of a rally. In the meantime, Syracuse threatened at the plate. Peyton Schemmer’s double at the top of the fifth drove Burney home and cut SU’s deficit to one, prompting the Eagles’ head coach to substitute Alyx Rossi in for Pappion in the circle.
Rossi forced SU into a 1-2-3 sixth inning, but after threatening at the plate in three straight frames, the seemingly inevitable Orange rally came in the top of the seventh.
Burney walked to open the final inning. Lopez reached on a fielder’s choice at Burney’s expense, but Knight quickly made up for the out by drilling a double.
Lopez and Knight scored thanks to consecutive singles from Flores and Kaylee Eubanks. A BC switch from Rossi to Bailey Kendziorski in the pitching circle couldn’t stop the bleeding.
Fox smacked a hard ground ball at BC’s Paharik. The third baseman extended her glove but couldn’t reach the ball in time. It ricocheted off her mitt into a vacant centerfield, giving the Orange enough time to plate two. The four-run seventh inning put Syracuse up 6-3, erasing its initial three-run hole.
But the Eagles wouldn’t go down without a fight. Back-to-back doubles from Ptak and Martinez cut BC’s deficit to two.
The substitution of Cano with Verni only seemed to worsen the situation. Verni had no warm-up, and she had thrown 186 in the two days prior. Espinoza’s greeting to Verni was an RBI single, cutting SU’s lead to one.
Katelyn Deguire and Paharik both walked before Espinoza reached home for the game-tying run on a passed ball. Espinoza’s run came on a 3-0 count with the bases loaded and Riddell at the plate. At 6-6, the game balanced on whether Verni could hit the strike zone.
Her ensuing pitch hit the dirt. Verni sprinted to cover home as Borders advanced, but she was too late. She turned to walk back to the dugout.
Why should she linger? SU’s bullpen was too shallow. With Knight playing first, Verni was called upon. She failed to hit the strike zone once.
