Looking at Syracuse’s offensive statistics this season, it’s hard to argue with the philosophy Wally King preaches at the plate.

When SU hits a home run, the Orange holds an astounding 15-3 record. When the team has failed to leave the park, it stands at just 6-6. That’s why for King, SU’s hitting coach, clearing the fence is critical to any success the Orange will have this season.

‘We’re predicated on driving the ball, and that’s what we work on every day,’ King said.

And in Syracuse’s (21-9, 2-1 Big East) last three games, the players are responding emphatically to King’s teaching. In two wins during the weekend against St. John’s, the Orange smashed 11 round-trippers. In the sole loss from the weekend, Syracuse didn’t go deep once.

It’s a microcosm of the season for Syracuse so far. King figures that if his players have at least 21 at-bats, there’s no reason they shouldn’t go up there aggressively.

Every player in the SU starting lineup now has at least one home run to her name. And with the power Syracuse displayed last weekend, it doesn’t surprise him. It’s what he expects from them.

‘One thing coach King goes by is not taking off at-bats. Not wasting at-bats,’ Lisaira Daniels said. ‘That’s the one thing he kind of stresses. Don’t waste at-bats. Take your hacks. … If you take your hacks, you’ll more than likely drive the ball.’

Even more impressive is how every player in the lineup is a long-ball threat, making the Orange a daunting challenge for opposing pitchers.

In the series finale against St. John’s, freshman Julie Wambold was struggling at the plate, saddled without a hit in her first three at-bats. But on her fourth trip to the plate, Wambold launched one over the fence.

She was one of seven different Orange players to hit a home run last weekend.

‘We really say there’s no excuse for us with the power we have in our lineup to not leave the yard every game. So we spend a lot of time on that,’ King said. ‘We spend a lot of time on a mentality of being the predator, not the prey.’

And that means being on the hunt during every inning.

Though King understands that manufacturing runs is how many teams get runs on the board, Syracuse relies on the long ball for its offense output.

And with the dominant pitching Syracuse boasts, King knows a few home runs often lead to all the offensive output it needs.

‘If we play small ball and every time we give up an at-bat, that goes a little bit of what we talk about, and if we all get our hacks in, we should never not leave the yard,’ King said.

Going into Syracuse’s first conference games of the year, SU head coach Leigh Ross said that different players had been stepping up for the Orange, but she still thought the Orange had only scratched the surface of its offensive potential.

Once everyone gets going, she said she thinks the team could be ‘unstoppable.’

‘You see sparks coming from different people,’ Ross said. ‘Once they all tie that together, once everyone gets on the same page and gets hot at once, you’re probably going to see a big difference.’

And with pitching proving to be tougher as the competition improves in the Big East, the chances to hammer pitching mistakes are going to decrease.

The mentality to be a ‘predator’ at the plate must continue the rest of the season.

‘The mistakes we make are the ones we aren’t going to square up, are going to be magnified,’ King said. ‘We can’t miss the mistakes as we (face) better and better pitching.’

dgproppe@syr.edu 

Published on April 2, 2012 at 12:00 pm