With no hesitation, Dean Dease can remember in 1992 when 2nd baseman Craig Swainey hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 7th inning to tie a 4A state playoff game against Anson County. Or the little signs of leadership that Larry McDonald showed towards his teammates that let Dease know that 2008 would be no ordinary year. It would be a state championship one.
Now, McDonald is a personal assistant to Texas A&M head football coach Jimbo Fisher after previously serving on Kevin Sumlin’s staff for six years.
On Tuesday, 34 years after joining Orange High as a junior varsity baseball coach at football assistant, Dease will go for his 500th head coaching victory when Orange travels to Southern Durham.
On Friday, Orange secured Dease’s 499th career win with a 6-3 win over Chapel Hill. Junior reliever Luke Riley threw two-and-a-third shutout innings for his first varsity win. Third baseman Caige Clayton took over pitching duties in the 7th with the bases loaded after Riley gave up two walks and hit a batter. Clayton struck out Marlowe Iorio and Tyler Tachman. Jack Olcott flew out to centerfielder Jaydin Poteat for the final out. Clayton, who had never pitched an inning of varsity baseball before this season, earned his second save in as many weeks.
Slaughter drove in four runs for Orange. In the 1st inning, Slaughter bounced a RBI single up the middle to score shortstop Joey Berini, who doubled in the previous at-bat. After Chapel Hill’s Drew Govert led off the 2nd with a homer to tie the game, Slaughter was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Colin Guentensberger and give Orange a 2-1 lead.
Orange is now tied with Northwood for 4th in the Big 8 Conference with an 6-4 conference mark with four games remaining. The Panthers, 8-10 overall, ends the regular season next week against Northern Durham.
Orange ended Chapel Hill’s 10-game winning streak. The Tigers are 8-2 and remain in first place in the Big 8 by one game over Cedar Ridge and East Chapel Hill. Entering Friday, CHHS had won three in a row against the Panthers.
Though Dease’s name is synonymous with baseball across Hillsborough, what brought him to Orange High was his first love: football. He played club football at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was a linebacker, traveling by bus each weekend to face teams at Appalachian State, Richmond, N.C. State and elsewhere.
In 1984, Dease was hired by principal Dr. Stephen Halkiotis to become a history teacher, defensive coordinator for the football team and an assistant to head baseball coach Gary Maske.
Halkiotis’ encouraging final words to Dease after hiring him: “Don’t screw it up, boy.”
34 years later, he hasn’t. Counting Clayton and Slaughter, 55 players who have played under Dease have gone to play college or professional baseball. Since 1988, Orange has captured one state championship, one regional championship, 12 conference championships, made 19 appearances in the state playoffs with an overall record of 499-253.
On Friday night, Orange will host Southern Durham. The game will include a reunion of the 2008 2A State Championship team, which swept East Rutherford for the title. Anyone who has played for Coach Dease is asked to attend Friday’s game.