Alexa Romero seemed to have it all together against North Carolina. A one-hit, two-strikeout first inning followed by a perfect second inning was only the fourth time in 13 appearances this season she’d pitched two straight scoreless innings to start. 

The rest of the game was plagued with inconsistency by Romero, though. In the end, Syracuse (8-10, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) fell to North Carolina (9-11, 3-1) 3-2 in Syracuse’s conference opener Friday evening.

In the third inning, a groundout followed by two singles put runners on first and second with one out for UNC. A fly out to center made it two outs, and then Romero gave up an RBI single to let the first run cross the plate. 

Despite facing seven batters, Romero only gave up one run in the fourth. A single, a walk and a hit by pitch quickly loaded the bases after she retired the first two batters. An RBI walk followed and brought the second run home for the Tar Heels.

But then Romero gave up a home run to start the fifth inning — her eighth of the season. A walk and double followed, yet a double play and a rocket from Paris Woods to Gabby Teran ended the inning.

The Orange’s offense struggled against UNC sophomore Hannah George, whose 2.79 ERA leads the team and is 14th in the ACC. Syracuse had only two hits the entire game from AJ Kaiser and Mia Cunnings, while eight batters struck out.

A double by Cunnings brought the first run across the plate, scoring Gabby Teran — who was hit by a pitch to open the inning. Kaiser doubled in the sixth inning to bring Jamie Gregg home after she reached on an error.

Rebecca Clyde’s recent struggles also continued against the Tar Heels. After an 0-3 day, Clyde is now 1-for-23 with eight strikeouts in her last eight games. The freshman was moved up in the order after batting .333 in her first eight games. Head coach Shannon Doepking moved her to batting eighth today.

Syracuse continues its weekend series against UNC Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Published on March 6, 2020 at 9:15 pm

aekaylor@syr.edu | @cincinnallie