Clemson Softball travels to upstate New York to battle Syracuse this weekend. Because of rain, The series will open on Saturday, April 6 at 4 pm. Clemson will try to build on last weekend’s series victory against Boston College by claiming another series win in Syracuse after dropping a midweek game to Furman on Tuesday. This will be Syracuse Softball’s second home series of the year. They started the year playing 27 road or neutral site games, still they managed to finish that stretch just above .500 with a 14-13 record. This will be only their second weekend home series of the season. Syracuse took 2 of 3 from Georgia Tech in Syracuse last weekend.
Syracuse has two starters with impressive numbers. One is Lindsey Hendrix. Hendrix comes into the series leading Syracuse starters in ERA, wins, shutouts and games started. Her ERA sits at 2.27, along with seven wins, 2 shutouts, and 11 games started are all impressive numbers. The other pitcher from Syracuse that could give Clemson trouble is Madison Knight. Knight leads the team in complete games with 4 and innings pitched at 58, has 44 strikeouts which is also tops for Syracuse. Syracuse also has a pair of impressive bullpen arms that Clemson will have to contend with.
Clemson will be throwing Valerie Cagle and Regan Spencer this weekend along with Millie Thompson. All three pitchers have been superb for Clemson this season with Regan Spencer being just phenomenal. Spencer has an ERA under 1 at .70 she is undefeated at 6-0 this season. Spencer also leads all pitchers with the opponents hitting only .196 against her. Not to be outdone is Valerie Cagle’s 77.2 innings pitched, 7 wins, 20 appearances, 10 games started, and 84 strikeouts are all team highs. Millie Thompson who has an ERA of 1.44 isn’t a bad third starter for a starting pitching staff that is loaded with talent. If Clemson must go to the bullpen they can bring in midweek starter Brooke McCubbin who is tied with Cagle for the team lead in wins. Not exactly the break Syracuse would be hoping for if they get to a starter this weekend.
Coming out of the bullpen for Syracuse will be Jessi Dipasquale, and Julianna Verni. They have combined for 20 appearances for Syracuse with only two of those appearances coming in a starting role. Dipasquale leads the team with a 1.02 ERA. Verni has 2 saves on the year which is tied for the team lead. She also only allows opponents to hit .209 off of her, also a team best. However both players seem a little wild combining for 7 hit by pitches and 8 wild pitches on the year. The eight wild pitches really stand out when you see Syracuse has only been credited with nine on the year. Dipasquale is tied for hit by pitches with 5 despite throwing 15 innings fewer than starter Brittany Lewinski who also has five.
Taylor Posner is the big bat in the batting order for Syracuse. Posner has an OPS of 1.057, 20 runs scored , 10 home runs, she has driven in 35 RBI’s, and has a .691 slugging percentage all first on the team. If that wasn’t enough she is also 9-9 in stolen bases. The other bat in the lineup that can do damage is Angel Jasso. Jasso leads the team with a .385 average and a .444 on-base percentage. She also leads the team in stolen bases and has taken 12 in 13 attempts.
Clemson will be bringing their own big bats to Syracuse. Valerie Cagle with a .376 average leads the team. Cagle has also knocked in a team leading 33 RBI’s. McKenzie Clark has some firepower of her own. The senior leads the team in home runs with 8. She also has a team leading .676 slugging average and leads the team in runs scored with 34.
All games for this series will be day games Friday at 3pm, Saturday at 1pm, and Sunday at noon.
