The Orange baseball team won its first two Central Conference games this week. The Panthers swept Western Alamance for the first time since the two teams became conference rivals in 2022. On Tuesday, junior Ryan Sawyer struck out ten batters as the Panthers defeated Western Alamance 8-1 in Hillsborough. In five appearances so far this year, Sawyer has won four starts with a 1.91 earned run average. Sawyer also struck out ten batters in a 7-1 win over East Chapel Hill last week. During the first week of the season, Sawyer threw four innings and held Chapel Hill to three runs in an 9-5 victory over the Tigers on February 26. Sawyer’s development has been important for an Orange team that lost its top two starters and much of its bullpen from last year. In 2025, Sawyer has become the Panthers regular Tuesday starter. Last year, Sawyer won two games coming out of the bullpen. On Friday night, Orange endured cold weather, injuries and a rough start to defeat Western Alamance 11-7 in Elon. Garrett Sawyer came in relief in the opening inning and grinded out three-and-two-thirds innings of relief to earn the win. Sophomore Kayden Bradsher went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Orange will travel to Person on Tuesday night.