Cedar Ridge Baseball

Baseball is a numbers game. It’s 511 wins by Cy Young. Or 73 home runs by Barry Bonds in a season. Getting 20 wins in a high school career isn’t easy, but it’s a plateau that Cedar Ridge senior Phillip Berger reached last week in a 13-1 win at Hillside in Durham. Consider that Berger has only started 25 games in his varsity career and made 43 pitching appearances. Berger is now 3-4 this season in six starts. In his sophomore season, Berger earned a win in the state playoffs when the Red Wolves defeated Nash Central 4-1. Berger will wind down his accomplished varsity career over the next few weeks. He will face Southern Durham on Tuesday in a doubleheader at Red Wolves Territory.

Cedar Ridge centerfielder Jackson Strowd is the leading hitter for the Red Wolves this season with a .429 average over eleven games. Strowd leads the team with 12 hits and is tied for the team lead with eleven runs. He has three multi-hit games this season, the most recent against Eastern Guilford on March 25. Last Thursday, Strowd went 1-for-2 against Hillside in a 13-3 victory in Hillsborough. He also went 1-for-2 with a run scored in a 9-6 loss to Chapel Hill. On Tuesday, Cedar Ridge will host Southern Durham in a doubleheader in Hillsborough as the Red Wolves continue their pursuit of a 4th consecutive state playoff birth. Action between the Spartans and the Red Wolves starts at 5. You can hear the game here on Hillsboroughsports.com.

The Cedar Ridge baseball team swept its first Big 8 Conference season of the year last week. They defeated Hillside 13-1 on Tuesday in Durham, then defeated the Hornets 13-3 in Hillsborough on Thursday. Chris Pearce earned his first varsity pitching win for the Red Wolves on Thursday. Pearce threw four-and-two-thirds innings, striking out five while surrendering four hits and three runs, one earned. Pearce made his first varsity start on March 6 in a loss to Carlisle (VA). This week, Cedar Ridge will look to maintain its momentum when they face Southern Durham in a doubleheader in Hillsborough on Tuesday. That doubleheader will be broadcast live here on Hillsboroughsports.com.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior pitcher Phillip Berger. On March 19, Berger earned the 19th win of his Cedar Ridge career as the Red Wolves held off Chapel Hill 3-2. Berger threw his third complete game of the season, holding the Tigers to four hits. He struck out eight as the Red Wolves won its first Big 8 Conference game of the season. This week, the Red Wolves are off for spring break. When Cedar Ridge resumes its season against East Chapel Hill on Tuesday, Berger will go for the 20th win of his career. Berger started the season with a 10-0 victory over Oxford Prep, a game where he gave up no hits in five innings.