Baseball season openers aren’t easy.
The weather is usually cold so it doesn’t feel like baseball weather, even during a winter as tame as the current one. The crowd is usually silent because they’re more focused on staying warm. Some of the players are transitioning after basketball or wrestling season ended and have barely had time to practice.
On Monday night, it was cold, gray and overcast, not exactly the trappings of an intense atmosphere, but Connor Nordan was more than willing to fill the gap to start a season of high expectations for Orange baseball.
Nordan went 3-for-3 with five RBIs while junior pitcher Cross Clayton struck out seven over four innings as Orange cruised past East Chapel Hill 13-1 in five innings on Monday night at Orange High Field. Right fielder Cameron Guentensberger added a two-run double as the Panthers improved to 4-1 in season openers under head coach Jason Knapp.
After he surrendered his only run of the game, Clayton set down the final nine consecutive Wildcats he faced, striking out six. Clayton went 8-3 with a 2.59 ERA in his first varsity season in 2022.
Knapp elected to start Clayton ahead of Ryan Hench, a senior who started the previous two Opening Days for the Panthers. Part of it was Knapp wanted to save Hench for Wednesday’s game at Northern Durham.
“Connor has probably turned into our biggest vocal leader,” Knapp said of Nordan. “He’s really stepped up in that leadership capacity this year. We’re proud of him and he sets the tone of the whole club.”
Orange scored in all four of its at-bats. Jackson Berini, who recently committed to Gaston College, scored three runs. The Panthers opened with four runs in the first inning that started with an infield single by Berini. After Hench, who played third base, reached on a single to third, Nordan sent a bouncer that hugged the third base line to bring in Berini and Hench. Guentensberger got onboard off an error. With two out, Wyatt Hedrick loaded the bases after he got hit by a pitch. Ryan Horton, in his first start as a catcher, sent a grounder to centerfield to increase the Orange lead to 4-0.
East Chapel Hill’s Luke Ligon doubled off the left field wall to open the second inning. Ben Johnson, running for Ligon, scored the Wildcats’ only run off a groundout by Andrew Briley.
David Waitt got the run back for Orange in the second inning when he singled to centerfield. Wiatt scored off a line drive to right field by Nordan, who let out a yell after he advanced to second base on the throw.
Senior Joey Pounds, who recently committed to Barton College, opened the third inning by scoring off a wild pitch. Berini, who was hit by a pitch, later scored off a bases-loaded walk by Guentensberger.
In the fourth, Orange scored six runs. After Hedrick hit a leadoff single and Horton walked, Pounds dropped a gorgeous bunt down the third base line to lead the bases. Berini drove in a run off a bases-loaded walk. Hench was hit by a pitch to bring in Horton. Nordan ended a big night with a line drive that went over the right fielder’s head to bring in two more runs. Guentensberger knocked a first-pitch fastball to the right centerfield power ally, the deepest part of Orange’s ballpark, to score Hench and Nordan.
It’s the first of six non-conference games to open the season for Orange. The Panthers will travel to Northern Durham on Wednesday and are scheduled to host Northern Guilford on Friday.
Next week, the Panthers will host Jordan on March 6, followed by a trip to Greensboro to face Grimsley at First National Bank Field, the home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, on March 8. Orange will host Southern Alamance on March 10 before its conference opener against Western Alamance in Hillsborough.