Perhaps its fate. Maybe it karma. Possibly it’s a lot of residue stemming from design, hard work and plenty of heart.
Regardless, the close games that Cedar Ridge baseball lost last year have largely swung the opposite direction in 2022. On Wednesday night, the Red Wolves completed its fifth come-from-behind victory of the season.
After trailing Grimsley 5-2 going into the sixth inning in Greensboro on Wednesday night, the Red Wolves came back with five runs in the sixth inning, followed by four in the seventh to cruise to an 11-5 victory. Cedar Ridge has won five in a row, its longest winning streak since 2018, which was also the last time the Red Wolves reached the 3A State Playoffs.
Oddly enough, all five victories during the winning streak have been on the road. Technically, Cedar Ridge’s win over Eastern Alamance in the second game of a doubleheader on Friday was a home game, but it was played in Mebane after the original meeting was rained out in Hillsborough last week.
On Tuesday in Central Carolina Conference action, Cedar Ridge held off Western Alamance 4-1 in Elon. After the Warriors scored the initial run in the second inning, Red Wolf sophomore catcher Efrain Morales hit a grand slam to left field. It was Morales’ second home run of the season. Cedar Ridge loaded the bases after freshman pitcher Quinn Finnegan drew a leadoff walk, senior Aidan Mcallister was hit by a pitch by Western’s Owen Bynum, and Cristian Macias also walked.
“It was huge,” said Cedar Ridge head coach Bryson Massey about Morales. “Anytime you can get that guy up in a situation with the bases loaded, I have all the confidence in the world in that kid to get the job done. The at-bat right before that one where Cristian got the walk to load the bases, to give Efrain a chance to give Efrain a chance to do what we expect him to do.”
The Red Wolves (11-6, 6-3 in the Central Carolina Conference) are tied with Eastern Alamance for 2nd place in the conference at 6-3, but the Red Wolves control the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Eagles after sweeping the doubleheader in Mebane.
Against Western Alamance, Finnegan earned his fourth win of the season. Finnegan, starting for the second straight game, allowed only one run and five hits over four innings. Junior B.J. Thornton, who replaced Finnegan in the fifth, struck out seven of the ten batters he faced for his third save of the year. Over three innings, Thornton allowed just one hit.
After the Warriors’ Alex Nebrig drove in Ty Belles in the second inning, Western Alamance didn’t have a runner touch third base the rest of the game. Finnegan and Thornton, backed by a Cedar Ridge defense that played an errorless game, allowed four singles in the final five innings.
Thornton also went 2-for-4 at the plate. Brian Flores, starting at third base, went 1-for-3.
Wednesday night’s win over Grimsley was Cedar Ridge’s fifth non conference win of the season. Nick Atkin, who made his varsity debut in the second game of the Eastern Alamance doubleheader last Friday, earned his first varsity win. Senior Mason Cates threw two scoreless innings for his first save of the season. Cates allowed only two hits and two walks.
Cedar Ridge started the rally with a leadoff walk in the sixth inning from Nick Nolan. Thornton, starting at second base, lined a single to right field. Mcallister loaded the bases with a base hit to left field. Atkin, in his only official at-bat of the game, singled to centerfield to drive in Nolan. Grimsley inserted Stephen Adamczak as pitcher to replace Chase Gurney, but Thornton put Cedar Ridge within a run after he scored on a passed ball. Once again, Morales had the biggest plate appearance of the game as he lined a two-run double to left field to plate Mcallister and Atkin, putting the Red Wolves ahead to stay.
Cates leveled a 1-0 fastball to centerfield to bring in Morales.
The Red Wolves added four more runs in the seventh inning. Mcallister had an RBI double to score Nolan. Morales added another RBI single. Morales finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs, while Cates went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Thornton and Mcallister were each 2-for-4. Mcallister scored three runs.
Cedar Ridge is scheduled to host Western Alamance on Friday night in Hillsborough. It will be the Red Wolves first home game since facing Holly Springs in the Hilltop Invitational two weeks ago.