SU advances to ACC Tournament quarterfinals

By Cooper Andrews asst. sports editor

Laila Alves was at the dish with the bases loaded in the sixth. Facing a full-count, Alves laced a single along the left-field line, bringing home Angel Jasso and Tessa Galipeau for a two-run single.

It was Alves’ team-high third hit of the game, finishing the day 3-for-3 at the plate. She gave SU its largest lead of the game, 5-2, an advantage that UVA couldn’t catch up to.

Syracuse traveled down to South Bend, Indiana to face Virginia in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament after an up-and-down regular season. Alves’ timely RBIs and Madison Knight’s two-way dominance led the Orange (24-25-1, 7-15-1 ACC) to an 8-2 victory over the Cavaliers (3022, 8-16 ACC), advancing to play the No. 1 seed Florida State in the Tournament quarterfinals.

The Orange began the Tournament with an uninspiring start, as Virginia starting pitcher Savanah Henley sat down the Orange’s first three hitters in order, only needing nine pitches to do it.

The Cavaliers responded by putting together an active bottom half of the inning, as Ayer and Jade Hylton hit back-to-back singles off Syracuse’s starter, Knight. Katie Goldberg laid down a sacrifice bunt, allowing the runners to advance to second and third base, then Tori Gilbert skied a sacrifice fly into deep left field, scoring Ayer to give UVA a 1-0 lead.

In the second frame, SU missed a golden opportunity, Taylor Posner knocked a single into left field, loading the bases with just one out. The Orange were poised to make some noise early.

Rebecca Clyde stepped up to the plate, and connected with a 1-1 pitch. The ball softly sailed into shallow left field as Gabby Lantier tagged up from third base, anticipating the ball would be caught.

But the ball dropped just in front of UVA left fielder Kelly Ayer, who scooped it and fired toward home, getting Lantier out with plenty of room to spare. SU still had the bases juiced, but Yamila Evans struck out swinging to end the frame.

The third inning was eerily similar to the first, as the top of the Orange’s order went down in 1-2-3 from page 12 seventh straight year, disregarding 2020 and 2021, after reaching that figure each season from 1997 through 2013. When owner Steve Cohen bought the organization in 2020 and Syracuse finished family-friendly stadium renovations, the Syracuse Mets began to gain back the attendance and fan engagement of years past.

“I think the key for baseball is you need to grow revenues, and it can’t be through constantly raising ticket prices. It’s got to be getting more attendance, getting more interest in the game,” Cohen told the Associated Press in February.

The billionaire hedge fund manager bought the New York Mets for $2.4 billion on Nov. 6, 2020. The Mets have been top two in payroll to start both seasons under Cohen’s control, spending a combined $124,353,331 over the salary cap.

In 2022, the Mets’ 101-win season drew 122,205 more fans than the last “normal” attendance year in 2019. This season, the Mets have the highest payroll in baseball by over $65 million, already impacting how they treat the Triple-A talent.

Syracuse started the season with four of the Mets’ top eight prospects on the team: Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos. The lineup drew a crowd of nearly 6,000 fans on April 4 as they beat the Rochester Red Wings 5-0 in their home opener. After Alvarez (the No. 1 prospect in baseball) and Baty (No. 19) were each called up in under 10 games, the average attendance dropped to 3,144 per game, according to baseball reference.

Benjamin Hill of milb.com said that Cohen is a businessman, and he’s confident the owner can draw big crowds to the ballpark, even with significant roster turnover.

Cohen’s preference to spend money on veterans rather than promote from within means players stay at their respective levels longer, creating ties to the community that increase fan engagement. Spencer, a season ticket holder in Syracuse, enjoys traveling with his family to New York to watch the prospects in the majors. He said it’s always special to see the local talent succeed, more so than other players.

With inconsistent weather and kids in school until June, Syracuse won’t get a steady fashion, with Jasso grounding out to a diving Gabby Baylog at first base to end frame No. 3.

As Syracuse faltered, Virginia plated runs. Lauren VanAssche’s leadoff bunt single, followed by a Hylton base-knock into right field put runners on the corners in the bottom of the third. Goldberg hit a grounder at Galipeau on first base, and instead of throwing home to get VanAssche out, she opted to take the force at first, then was too late with the toss to Alves at home. The Cavaliers had a 2-0 lead after three.

At last, the Orange got on the board in the fourth inning. Alves laced a one-out single into right, which brought Knight to the dish. On the first pitch of the at-bat, the freshman launched a game-tying, two-run home run into left field. It was Knight’s fourth long ball of the season, and team-leading 26th and 27th RBIs.

Virginia continued to struggle in the fourth. Third basemen Sarah Coon made two errors in a row, allowing Syracuse to attempt a two-out rally to try and increase its lead. Pinch-hitter

Jude Padilla subbed in for Galipeau, drawing a six-pitch walk to load the bases.

The ensuing batter, Madelyn Lopez, hit a hard grounder right up the middle of the diamond, but Hylton dove to her right at second base, fully extending her glove, and came up with the ball. She crawled a few feet over to second, tapping her glove on the base just before Padilla could get there. Hylton’s effort bailed Virginia out from facing a deficit in the fourth. Knight avoided giving the lead back to the Cavaliers in the bottom half. Despite hitting Abby Weaver with a pitch to begin the frame, Knight forced Coon and Baylog to ground out, then Leah Boggs flew out to Jasso in center field. Through four innings, SU and UVA were locked at two apiece.

A leadoff single from Jasso to start the fifth, followed by an Alves single through the left side pitted runners on the corners for Knight. Continuing to put the team on her back, Knight squeaked a ground ball past Hylton, allowing Jasso to stroll across home and giving the Orange a 3-2 lead, their first of the day. Clyde took a walk to load up the bases, however, Ryan Starr bounced one to the pitching circle.

UVA gained some momentum to lead off its half of the fifth, after VanAssche legged out a triple down the right-field line. Next, Knight issued a walk to Ayer, who stole second base. Knight struck out Hylton swinging on a low pitch, but juiced the diamond after walking Goldberg.

With her back against the wall, Knight delivered, forcing Gilbert to ground out right back to the circle, where Knight got the force at home and Alves turned two, getting Gilbert out at first to end the inning. Knight escaped a jam, which was one of UVA’s best scoring chances of the day.

After Alves’ clutch single in the sixth, the Orange picked up more insurance via Clyde drawing a walk with the bases loaded to bring another run across, increasing their lead to 6-2. In the seventh, Lopez hustled out a bunt single that trickled to the left side, and Jasso hit a bloop single just over Goldberg’s head at shortstop, putting runners on first and second. SU tacked on two more runs as UVA made two consecutive errors (It committed five on the afternoon) that led to Lopez and Jasso crossing home, giving the Orange an 8-2 lead.

Virginia mustered three baseruners through innings 6-7 and Knight tallied a complete-game, securing Syracuse a spot in the quarterfinals, where Florida State awaits it. ccandrew@syr.edu @cooper_andrews attendance until summertime. Because of those factors, Hill said MiLB playoff games fail to draw large crowds. In Syracuse, the weather can also cause problems in the beginning of the season.

“It’s not so much the players that are the problem but the weather is terrible,” said lifelong Syracuse resident and baseball fan Jason Spencer. “I know there’s days that I don’t even want to come here, but I support the team.”

In a long-form observational study, Seth Gitter and Thomas Rhoads determined that new stadiums increase attendance by 1.2 mil- lion fans at the AAA level. While Syracuse didn’t build a brand new stadium, it catered its ballpark experience to the local fans.

Lifelong Mets fan Ark Naugin, who now lives in Scranton, said the product Syracuse puts out is superior to what Scranton produces for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate. Naugin referred to the stadium renovations, including grass areas along the outfield lines. Every game, young fans use the hill to play games while still being close to the action.

Naugin also said Syracuse has more promotional nights than Scranton, which he attri- butes to Cohen’s business acumen. When he attended the game on May 6, veteran NFL running back Latavius Murray threw the ceremonial first pitch and hosted an autographsigning session. Murray attended Onondaga Central High School and recently signed a deal with the Buffalo Bills.

“This is better, and not just because I’m a Mets fan,” said Naugin, who drives to Syracuse regularly for games. “You can see the growth… People actually show up [now].”

1wbmiller@syr.edu @wymill07