ELON–As James Hinshaw threw out Ryan Horton for the final out in Western Alamance’s win over Orange on Tuesday night, a disgruntled Panther fan pulled up his lawn chair and bit his bottom lip as he started to the parking lot.
“That team has our number,” he huffed while sighing.
While Western Alamance hasn’t had a winning season in either year they’ve competed in the Central Conference, they do find a winning formula when they face the Panthers, the three-time defending conference champions.
On Tuesday night, the Warriors didn’t bring their “A” game, but what they came out with was still good enough to prevail.
A week after getting blown out by Person 13-3 in Roxboro, the Warriors edged Orange 4-3 at Warriors Field. It was Western Alamance’s fourth win over the Panthers in its last six meetings.
Orange (4-3, 0-1 in the Central Conference) had its 11-game conference winning streak , dating back to last season, snapped.
On a chilly night where fans were bundled up from the first pitch, Western Alamance pitcher Camden McCandless and reliever Sam Patterson didn’t allow any walks. Orange starter Josiah Gibbs and reliever Garrett Sawyer conceded four walks that proved to be costly.
In the sixth inning, Fred Harrelson, after striking out twice in his previous at-bats, drew a leadoff walk. Sawyer threw a wild pitch with Noah Huffine at bat. After Huffine struck out, Hinshawk grounded out to Henry Hoffman at third base, moving Harrelson over to third.
Jacob Miles, the ninth batter in the Western order, sent a bouncing ball to Cross Clayton at shortstop. Clayton didn’t charge the ball and his throw to first base was low, which Miles beat out. Harrelson scored the game-winning run.
Clayton reached on an infield single in the seventh with two out, but Horton’s groundout ended the game.
It was another trip to Elon where Orange struggled to put runs across the plate. In 2022, the Panthers won 1-0 when Jackson Berini stole home in the seventh inning to break open a scoreless game. Last year, McCandless held Orange to two runs off three hits in a 4-2 Warrior win.
The Panthers scored immediately on Tuesday night. Wyatt Hedrick singled to right field, then stole second. With two out, Clayton hit a pop-up in the infield, but the howling winds played games with the ball and shortstop Cooper Marks couldn’t find it and the ball well down in right field. Hedrick scored to put Orange ahead.
The Warriors got its own unearned run in the bottom of the first. Marks drew a walk off nine pitches. Eli Abbott laid down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown away by Gibbs. Marks rounded the bases to tie the game. McCandless reached on a fielder’s choice as Abbott was thrown out at second by Hedrick. Sam Patterson lined a single to centerfield, where Cameron Guentensberger threw to Hedrick trying to tag out McCandless, who was ruled safe on a close play.
The Warriors played some base running shenanigans as Patterson ran for second. Gibbs threw to Henry Hoffman, the second baseman, as McCandless ran for the plate. McCandless beat the tag to put the Warriors ahead 2-1.
Orange immediately tied the game when freshman Oliver Van Tiem laid down a bunt. McCandless’ throw to first went off Van Tiem’s thigh, leading Van Tiem to take second base. Elijah Santos sent a two-out liner into the wind to left field, which landed just shy of the fence. Van Tiem scored to even things at 2-2.
Huffine laced a one-out single to left field in the fourth. After Miles was hit by a pitch, Johnny Curtis came out as a courtesy runner for Huffine. Marks singled to right field, where Santos got a clean throw to the plate, but Curtis slid around Horton’s tag to put the Warriors back in front.
Orange had a two-out rally in the fifth inning when Guentensberger landed an infield single, then stole second. Clayton drilled an 0-1 fastball to the fence in left field, bringing in Guentensberger.
With Orange’s loss, six of the seven teams in the Central Conference already have a league loss. Southern Alamance, who defeated Williams 4-2 in Burlington on Tuesday, is atop the league at 2-0.