Orange baseball’s season opener can be boiled down to offense.
Voyager Academy has a lineup. Orange had Jaydin Poteat. And the difference amount to two runs in favor of the Vikings, and easily could have been more.
As it was, Voyager defeated Orange 5-3 on a chilly Wednesday afternoon in Hillsborough. Vikings’ starting pitcher Chase Sykes finished 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs, and earned the win on the mound by throwing four innings and yielding just two hits. Aaron Beasley, who has committed to play at Duke next season, took the save throwing three innings of relief, striking out five while also scattering two hits.
Poteat, Orange’s leading hitter for the third straight year, scored two runs, stole three bases and finished 1-for-2 with a walk. Aside from that, the rest of the Panther lineup went 3-for-21, all singles.
Orange jumped out for two runs in the first inning. Poteat drew a leadoff walk on Sykes, then generated his own run without any help from the Panther bats. Poteat stole second, then stole third and went home when the subsequent catcher’s throw wound up in left field. Joey Berini also scored in the first, drawing a walk and scoring off a single by Caige Clayton.
Starting in the 2nd inning, the Vikings tied the game and threatened in every inning afterward. Christian Rasberry, who finished 3-for-4, singled. Catcher Liam Holder and second baseman Zach Jones threw two-out walks to load the bases, leading to Sykes hitting a two-run single up the middle to tie the game.
After the Vikings loaded the bases with one out in the 3rd but failed to score, Jacob Glazer (courtesy running for Sykes) scored the go-ahead run after Sykes singled. Beasley knocked in Glazer to put Voyager ahead 3-2.
Meanwhile, Sykes and Beasley combine to retire eleven consecutive Orange batters. The Panthers went without a baserunner from the 3rd to the 5th.
The Vikings extended its lead after Brenton Fisher reached on a throwing error and advanced to 2nd when the ball dribbled into the Orange dugout. Rasberry knocked in Fisher with a single to right center.
Trailing 4-2, Orange had a chance to tie in the 6th. Poteat legged out an infield single and stole second. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Jason Slaughter singled to center to narrow the Viking lead to 4-3. Slaughter went to 3rd after a wild pitch with one out, but the next two Panther batters popped out in a failed chance to even the game.
Once again, Voyager loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but netted only one run when Matthew Dobson scored off an infield single by Sykes.
Orange is slated to travel to Eden Morehead on Friday afternoon at 5. If the game is rained out, it is slated to be made up on Saturday at 2 in Eden.