Left fielder Bryce Holmgren was at the plate. It was the bottom of the fourth and SU was up 4-3. Holmgren knocked the ball out to right field. It rolled past a diving Canisius first baseman and Holmgren was safe on first.

Second baseman Gabby Teran advanced Holmgren to second with a ball far into center field for a single right after and Holmgren advanced to second. A wild pitch moved both players up a bag, placing both in scoring position. The next batter, center fielder Toni Martin, took advantage of that. She sent the ball deep into the outfield, doubling, and sending the baserunners home.

After winning the early game of Wednesday’s doubleheader 6-2 and giving Syracuse head coach Mike Bosch his 600th career win, Syracuse (18-14, 4-7 Atlantic Coast) delivered its third-highest scoring game of the season in the second game against in-state foe Canisius (3-22), 10-4. SU had its highest combined batting average of the season and tied its season high in hits.

“They have confidence in what they do,” Bosch said, “and I think what you see is that if one or two players have success the people behind them feel confident and it just kind of builds on each other.”

Canisius was the first on the board, scoring three runs at the top of the third. It didn’t take long for SU to respond, scoring four in the bottom of the same inning.

It started with center fielder Alicia Hansen, who had gone 1-8 in her last three games, launching one deep into the outfield. The ACC leader in triples added to her total and put herself in scoring position. A wild pitch during the next at-bat scored Hansen.

“For me to be able to go up and overcome all the struggles I’ve been having in the last few at-bats, and then coming up and getting a triple, I think that gave everyone confidence,” Hansen said.

Once the scoring started in the third inning, SU scored in each subsequent inning. Four came in the third, three in the fourth, one in the fifth and two to top it off in the sixth.

SU posted a .467 batting average. That is its highest of the season by .032 and is about .200 more than the team’s overall average. It also tied its season high in hits with 14.

“On average a game is like eight hits,” Hansen said. “14 hits is definitely a lot.”

After Hansen scored in the third, it was a few at-bats before the last three runs were recorded. Martin and first baseman Faith Cain both walked, putting them at first and third when designated hitter Rachel Burkhardt stepped up to the plate. A line drive down the third base side pushed her to second base and allowed Cain and Martin to score. Catcher Michala Maciolek hit one out to right field to drive Burkhardt in for the final run of the inning.

Ten batters stepped up to the plate for the Orange and all 10 got on base at least once. Nine of the 10 recorded hits. Pinch-hitter Andrea Bombace was the only person to not record a hit but was walked the one time she was up to bat. It was the first time since the George Mason game a month ago that the Orange notched 14 hits.

“For us that’s huge,” Bosch said. “We’ve had times where we’ve had a couple people in the line-up who have had good games but putting up one through nine at times has been difficult, and so to see everybody in the line-up at least having a hit or getting on base or doing something productive is huge.”

Published on April 4, 2018 at 6:55 pm

Contact Kaci: klwasile@syr.edu