For a team that was depleted by graduations and transfers at the end of last season, the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves baseball squad isn’t staying down when they’re supposed to.
Western Alamance led the Red Wolves 3-0 at the end of two-and-a-half innings on Tuesday night. But this was Cedar Ridge’s senior night, and it was seniors B.J. Thornton, Issac Anderson and Will Tippin who provided big plays that enabled a Red Wolf comeback win.
Cedar Ridge scored 12 unanswered runs to beat the Warriors 12-4. Thornton, the starting pitcher, fanned nine over six innings to earn the win. He allowed just four hits and four runs, only one earned.
Junior Mason Cates belted a two-run homer to start the comeback in the bottom of the third. It was Cates first homer of the season over the left field wall. After Thornton was hit by a pitch, Grant McGuffey stepped up to bat. Thornton stole second, and McGuffey lined a single to left field to score Thornton and tie the game.
In the fourth, Cedar Ridge loaded the bases when Ian McGuffey was hit by a pitch. Nick Aitkin walked and Tippin sent a hard grounder to right field for a single. McGuffey was thrown out at the plate after Anderson grounded to third baseman Tyler Atkins. With two out, Quinn Finnegan sent a hard grounder and reached on an error by the shortstop, bringing in Aitkin and Tippin.
Grant McGuffey delivered the kill shot with a single to left field. Anderson and Finnegan scored to increase the Cedar Ridge lead to 8-3.
The Red Wolves are now 6-5 in the Central Carolina Conference. They play Grimsley in Hillsborough on Wednesday, then travel to Western Alamance on Friday for their final conference game of the regular season.
On his senior night, Tippin went 2-for-3. Cates finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Grant McGuffey finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
Orange 6, Northwood 1: Once again, the Orange bullpen took a potential upset that would have reverberated across the CCC and silenced it quickly.
And once again, it was junior Coltin Hedrick, who retired all nine Northwood batters he faced on his way to his third win of the season.
Hedrick’s dominance gave the Panther bats time to awake from a mid-game slumber. Tied 1-1 going into the fifth inning, Orange scored two runs in the fifth and another three in the sixth to beat Northwood 6-1.
In his last five appearances, Hedrick is 3-0 with two saves.
It was Orange’s eighth straight home win over the Chargers since the two teams became conference rivals in 2014. Northwood is leaving the CCC at the end of this season to return to 2A.
Northwood pitcher Sal Delgado kept Orange off-balance after the first inning. Moments after the Chargers tied the game following a sacrifice fly to right field by Nate Ortiz to score Nate Davis in the fourth inning, Delgado set Orange down 1-2-3 for the only time in the game.
Orange’s Cross Clayton opened the fifth getting plunked on the bat on a 2-2 pitch. With Neo Best at bat, Clayton advanced to second after wild pitch. Elijah Santos stroked a 2-0 fastball to left field to send Clayton to third. Jackson Berini drew a walk to load the bases. Waitt, who leads Orange in base hits, smashed a single past a diving Ortiz at third to bring in Clayton. With Ryan Hench at bat, Delgado uncorked a wild pitch. Santos raced for home and just got his hand on the plate before the throw by catcher Robert Tripp got to Delgado. Orange led 3-1.
After Hedrick retired the Chargers in order in the sixth, Orange rallied big time with two outs. Clayton dropped a single into left field. Best got on board on a walk. Santos faintly touched a cue shot down the third base line against new Northwood pitcher Nathan McWilliams, whose throw to first was errant. Ty Walker, running in place of Clayton, came around to score. The ball wound up in left field, and the relay throw skipped helplessly across the infield, allowing Best to score and sending Santos to second. Berini sent a grounder up the middle, plating Santos.
In the opening inning, Berini hit a leadoff double. Connor Nordan, who leads Orange with 26 RBIs, sent a laser to left field for a single, bringing in Berini, who has scored in 15 of Orange’s 18 games,
Orange starter Josiah Gibbs was strong across four innings. He allowed only one run off four hits with three strikeouts and no walks in a no decision.
Orange will travel to Southwestern Randolph tonight before going to Northwood to complete the two-game series on Friday night.