Maddie Cintron hit a fifth-inning home run (Clemson athletics photo).

CU Athletic Communications - 7 hours ago

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Senior Alex Brown went 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored, while sophomore Julia Knowler and freshman Macey Cintron hit home runs to propel the Clemson Tigers to an 8-1 win against the Syracuse Orange on Friday afternoon. With the win, Clemson improved to 22-9 (4-3 ACC), while Syracuse fell to 19-9 (1-6 ACC).

In total, Clemson’s offense put up 12 hits to mark the 12th time in 2025 Clemson finished with double-digit hits. Sophomore Kylee Johnson joined Brown as the only two Tigers to clock multiple hits, adding two. A total of eight players clocked a hit. Senior Maddie Moore led the team with three RBIs, and Knowler added two from her home run.

In the circle, senior Reese Basinger pitched her eighth complete game en route to earning her ninth win of the year. She faced 31 batters and struck out five.

The Tigers capitalized in the second inning to plate four runs. After Sam Minish reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second, Johnson ripped an RBI single up the middle for the first run. The remaining three runs were scored with two outs. Jamison Brockenbrough drew a walk to join Johnson on the bases for Brown to knock an RBI single into left field to score Johnson. Brockenbrough and Brown had advanced a base on the throw into the infield to be in scoring position for Moore to hit a double down the left field line to score both runners.

A pair of home runs from Knowler and Cintron highlighted the fifth inning. After Brown led off with a single, Knowler drove her 10th home run of the season out of right center to extend the lead to 6-0. The two RBIs brought Knowler’s season count to 40, which cracks Clemson’s top-10 list for single season RBIs, while the home run marks the fifth-most by a sophomore in program history trailing only Moore (11 - 2023), McKenzie Clark (12 - 2022), Valerie Cagle (13 - 2022) and Alia Logoleo (15 - 2022). Freshman Macey Cintron followed in the next at bat with a solo shot of her own out of right center to extend the lead to 7-0. This was her sixth of the season and moved her into fourth all-time by a freshman trailing only Logoleo (8 - 2021), Clark (9 - 2022) and Cagle (17 - 2022). Cintron also brings her RBI count to 25 on the year.

Clemson added an additional run in the top of the sixth inning to take an 8-0 advantage. After Brockenbrough led off with a single, Brown doubled to right field and advanced to third on the throw home that caught Brockenbrough at home. This was Brown’s fourth hit of the day to mark only the second time in her career the senior tallied four hits. Moore clocked the last RBI for the Tigers of the game with a sac fly to center to plate Brown.

Syracuse responded with one run in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it 8-1, which held for the remainder of the game.

Up Next

The Tigers continue the series against the Orange on Saturday, March 22. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. on ACCNX.