Syracuse entered the weekend with a 4-5 record, with hopes to jump over the .500 mark. Its road schedule took the team to Orlando, Fla., for the ESPN Rise Citrus Classic, where it faced Louisiana State, Boston College, Longwood, Texas and Mississippi State.

 The Orange kicked off the weekend on Friday against No. 11 LSU. The Tigers edged the Orange 7-6 despite Veronica Grant’s third and fourth home runs of the season and a strong effort at the plate from Julie Wambold, who collected two hits and a run. Lindsay Taylor threw a complete game, but was unable to limit the production of the heart of the Tigers’ order.

In a game later that day, the Orange bounced back against Boston College. The Orange took down the Eagles 10-0 behind a tremendous performance from Corinne Ozanne. The third baseman had four hits and six RBIs in the game, including a three-run home run in the sixth. Stacy Kuwik grabbed the win, giving up just four hits and no runs in six innings of work.

In its first game on Saturday, the Orange was on the other end of a lopsided score, losing 10-0 to Longwood. Kuwik struggled, giving up seven runs on eights hits in five innings. The Orange’s only hit came from designated hitter Danielle Chitkowski.

Against Texas, a perennial Top 10 team, the Orange fought hard but fell 2-1. Grant’s solo home run was all the Orange could muster offensively, and six errors in the field allowed the Longhorns to steal the win. Taylor was fabulous for the Orange, giving up two unearned runs on two hits in a complete game.

In the final game of the weekend the Orange fell 4-1 to Mississippi State. Taylor provided the team with another solid outing but the offense was unable to provide the necessary scoring punch. Shirley Daniels went 2-for-3, and scored the Orange’s only run.

The Orange is now 5-9 and on a three-game losing streak. It pick up its season in Manoa, Hawaii, against Hawaii and Eastern Carolina, then in the Spring Fling Tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii, as a part of a week-long spring break trip.

Track & Field

Syracuse’s track and field team was split at three different last chance meets. It was the athletes’ last chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Coach Fox traveled with the distance runners to Notre Dame for the Alex Wilson Invitational. The women’s distance medley team featured Lauren Penney, Brianna Nerud, Rebecca Robinson and Molly Malone. The team finished sixth in the race with a time of 11:07.26, beating its Big East Championship time (11:20.03).

On the second day of the meet, sophomore Martin Hehir came in fourth place in the 3,000-meter run (8:00.24) and set a personal record. Hehir was one-tenth of a second away from tying Kyle Heath’s school record (8:00.14).

In the mile race, sophomore Ryan Urie finished in eighth place and also set a personal record with a time of 4:05.83.

At the Virginia Tech Qualifier, Donald Pollitt and Amadou Gueye ran the 60-meter hurdles. Pollitt finished in third place with a time of 7.89 seconds while Gueye finished sixth in 8.05 seconds.

In Boston, the men’s team competed at the 92nd annual ICA4 Invitational. There, freshman Dan Lennon was a bright spot for the Orange. He finished in eighth place in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 14:24.98. In the race, sophomore Andrew Palmer finished 19th and Tito Medrano placed 23rd.

The women’s team, also competing in Boston, participated in the ECAC Championships. Sarah Pagano finished in second place in the 5,000-meters with a time of 16:31.95, while junior Jessie Petersen finished 10th and freshman Emily Nist 27th.

Runners that qualified for Nationals will compete in Fayetteville, Arkansas next weekend at the NCAA Championships in the final competition before outdoor season.

Published on March 4, 2013 at 12:30 am