Cedar Ridge Baseball

The Cedar Ridge baseball team is in the hunt for a state playoff birth for the 2nd year in a row. Sailor Ramos is a big reason why. The senior centerfielder went 2-for-3 with a triple on Tuesday night in the Red Wolves’ 7-0 victory over Northern Durham. On Friday, Ramos went 2-for-3 in Cedar Ridge’s 5-3 win over Wake County HomeSchool in the Hillltop Invitational. On Thursday, Ramos went 3-for-3 with a home run against Jordan. Cedar Ridge is 7-5, 4-3 (tied for 4th in the Big 8) in the Big 8 Conference with a road trip to Northern Durham set for Friday. 

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Sailor Ramos

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Bryse Wilson: 2016 Orange graduate Bryse Wilson was assigned by the Atlanta Braves organization to the Florida Fire Frogs of the Class A Florida State League to start his 2nd full professional season. Wilson was supposed to make his Florida debut on Friday against the Daytona Tortugas, but the game was rained out. The Florida State League is High-A baseball in the minor league structure, a step up from the South Atlantic League, where Wilson played with the Rome Braves in 2017. Last year, Wilson went 11-8 with a 2.20 ERA through 32 starts. Wilson had 168 strikeouts with 45 walks.

Mia Davidson: In the last two weeks, the Mississippi State Bulldogs have faced #10 Texas A&M and #6 Georgia. MSU, ranked #22 as of last week, went combined for a 1-5 record against the Bulldogs and the Aggies. Davidson, a freshman catcher, hit .263 against Georgia and Texas A&M with two doubles and a home run. Davidson currently leads the SEC in slugging percentage (.843), is 2nd in home runs (13), 3rd in hits (52), 5th in runs scored (38), 5th in doubles (12), 9th in batting average (.409) and tied for 12th in RBIs (34). The Bulldogs are currently 29-11 with an 4-8 SEC record.

Mackenzie Cates: Lenoir-Rhyne swept a doubleheader against Mars Hill on Sunday, winning 6-5 and 10-1. It was the Bears Senior Day. Former Orange High catcher Mackenzie Cates combined to go 2-for-6 in the doubleheader with a double, a triple, two runs scored and an RBI. Cates is hitting .353 with nine home runs (3rd in the South Atlantic Conference) and 30 RBIs (9th in the SAC). The Bears are ranked #12 in Division II, has won ten in a row and is 20-0 at home this year. The Bears have also won 34 of their last 36 contests and maintained their four-game lead in the SAC.

Brad Debo: The former Orange catcher appeared as a pinch-hitter on Friday and Saturday in the Wolfpack’s series against Louisville. This season, Debo has played in 25 games and is hitting .264 with one home run and 13 RBIs. N.C. State, 25-6, has reached #2 in the country in the Baseball America, Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball polls, matching the highest ranking in school history.

Brandon Andrews: The 2017 Cedar Ridge graduate threw an inning of mop up duty against #17 LSU on April 3rd, giving up only one hit. So far in his freshman season, Andrews has pitched in eight games, throwing nine innings with a 7.00 ERA. Andrews has struck out five and walked two.

Rachel Peel: The Meredith catcher went 1-for-3 against Ferrum in sweeping a first-round USA Conference Series on Friday. Meredith advanced to face Covenant on Friday. In 19 games this season, Peel has hit .280 with one home run and seven RBIs.

Stephen Tanner: The former Cedar Ridge goalkeeper earned the win on Sunday as Greensboro College defeated Randolph College 9-7. Tanner made nine saves. Tanner is 8-8 for the Pride this season. Tanner is third in the USA South Atlantic Conference (Division III) with 150 saves and is 5th with an 8.96 goals against average.

Cole Churchill: Now a junior defenseman with Randolph-Macon, Churchill has seen action in nine games. Last week, Churchill got the start in the Yellow Jackets’ 10-7 at Bridgewater, Virginia.

Bowen Collins: The former Orange High midfielder fired two shots as Lenoir-Rhyne defeated Lincoln Memorial 14-11 on Saturday. The Bears are now 12-1, ranked #3 in Division II. They lead the South Atlantic Conference with a 5-0 league mark. This season in eight games, Collins has scored four goals and two assists.

Zack Wright: The former Orange attacker started and got off two shots in Mars Hill’s 19-7 loss at Queens. This season, Wright has played in three games and scored two goals.

A day after throwing an inning against First Colonial, Cedar Ridge junior Phillip Berger earned his third win of the season by beating Wake County Homeschools 5-4 on Friday afternoon in the final game of the Hilltop Invitational. Berger came two out shy of a complete game, holding the Warriors to a tournament-low four runs. Berger will prepare for Northern Durham this week as the Big 8 Conference season resumes. The Red Wolves host the Knights Tuesday at 6, then travel to Durham on Friday.

Cedar Ridge Pitcher Phillip Berger Discusses Win over Wake County

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Jake DeFranco wasn’t even supposed to play in the final game of the Hilltop Invitational on Friday afternoon. But when Miguel Flores suffered an eye injury while taking infield 20 minutes before the game, DeFranco took his customary spot at 2nd base and the Red Wolves reaped the benefits. Jake went 3-for-4 with an RBI triple. At shortstop, Dante had his customary strong defensive game to help the Red Wolves come from behind and beat the Wake County Warriors 5-4.

Dante and Jake DeFranco Discuss Win over Wake County Warriors

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It didn’t take Crash Davis to bust into a ballpark in the wee hours of the morning to create a rainout for the Hilltop Invitational’s planned tripleheader at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Saturday.

All that was needed was the latest forecast for rain—and more snow.

Originally, Orange and Cedar Ridge were supposed to conclude the Hilltop Invitational on Saturday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the famed home of the Durham Bulls during its days as the Carolina League affiliate of the Atlanta Braves from 1980-1996. Those plans changed on Tuesday night when forecasts of wet snowflakes began circulating locally with predicted lows below freezing.

Instead of a three-day event, the annual Hilltop Invitational will be two days at Orange, Cedar Ridge, East Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill High Schools.

On Thursday at Orange High School, Panther Creek will face Orange at 1 to start a tripleheader. East Chapel Hill meets Panther Creek in the sandwich game at 4. Orange faces Wake County HomeSchools in the nightcap at 7.

Chapel Hill will host the other tripleheader on Thursday. Starting at 1, Cedar Ridge faces Jordan. The Red Wolves turn right back around to face First Colonial (out of Virginia Beach, Virginia) at 4. Jordan takes on Chapel Hill in the nightcap at 7.

On Friday, play continues at three separate locations. Cedar Ridge, East Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill all host doubleheaders.

At Cedar Ridge, Orange hosts First Colonial at 1. Wake County Homeschools faces Cedar Ridge at 5.

At East Chapel Hill, the Wildcats will play both ends of a twinbill: they face Wake County at 1, followed by Jordan.

At Chapel Hill, the Tigers will also play two consecutive games. They host First Colonial at 5, followed by a game with Panther Creek at 7.

Unlike other Easter tournaments around the state, the Hilltop doesn’t follow a standard knockout tournament format. It’s simply a way for teams to get three nonconference games in during the crunch of conference season.

But these are not inconsequential games for Orange and Cedar Ridge. After the two crosstown rivals split their series last week, Orange is 6-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big 8 Conference, tied for 3rd with Northern Durham. After playing three games in two days in the Hilltop, Orange faces defending Big 8 Champion Northwood in a two-game set next week, starting with a home game on Tuesday.

Cedar Ridge, after beating Orange 7-3 on Thursday, is 5-3 overall, 3-3 in the Big 8. The Red Wolves are tied with Northwood for 5th in the Big 8. The good news for Cedar Ridge is the most intense part of its conference schedule is over, having faced the top three teams from the Big 8 from 2017 last month.

Cedar Ridge returns to Big 8 play against Northern Durham on Tuesday at Red Wolves Territory. It’s the first time ever that the Red Wolves and the Knights have meet on the baseball diamond as conference rivals.

First Colonial comes into the Hilltop Invitational with a 3-1 mark. Wake County HomeSchools is 10-4 and already has wins over Lee County and New Bern. They lost to J.H. Rose 7-2 last week.

Panther Creek, from the 4-A Triangle 6 Conference that is essentially the remains of the old PAC-6 Conference, is 4-6. After dropping three of its previous four games, the Catamounts defeted Sanderson 9-4 last week for its first conference win of the season.

We’ll be broadcasting Orange’s doubleheader on Thursday live here on HillsboroughSports.com.

For a sophomore, Matthew Kahn has grown up quite quickly.

Two weeks ago in a vital Big 8 Conference game against Northwood, Kahn took over on the mound in the 7th inning for starting pitcher Eric Zehnder with the game tied 2-2. He got the final two outs before Cooper Lamb laced the game-winning hit in the bottom of the inning as the Red Wolves won 3-2, avenging an embarrassing 17-6 loss in the conference opener from three days beforehand.

On Friday night, Kahn’s challenge was even steeper.

He entered Thursday’s game against Orange with the Red Wolves down 3-1 in the bottom of the third with the bases loaded and two out. The night before at OHS, Orange dominated the Red Wolves 8-0 behind a three-hit shutout from senior ace Will White. Another conference loss would have put the Red Wolves conference record to 2-4 and left them in sixth place in the Big 8 going into Easter break.

In other words, their chances for the state playoffs would be iffy, at best.

Yet Kahn was undeterred. He struck out Dayne Watkins to end the inning and Cedar Ridge proceeded to take over the game quickly.

The Red Wolves (5-3, 3-3 in the Big 8) scored the final seven runs of the game to beat Orange 7-3. It was the second year in a row that Cedar Ridge defeated the Panthers at Red Wolves Territory. Kahn earned the win after he surrendered one hit in the final 4-and-a-third innings, walking two and striking out three.

Cedar Ridge shortstop Dante DeFranco started the rally by getting hit by a pitch to leadoff the 4th. After stealing 2nd, DeFranco scored on a wild pitch. Red Wolves left fielder Sailor Ramos looped a single to right field to score Chris Cox. Erik Zehnder gave the Red Wolves the lead with a two-run homer to left field to conclude a 4-run 4th inning.

Ramos came up huge again in the 5th inning, when Cedar Ridge struck for three more runs. Ramos laced a two-out double to left field to score Jake DeFranco and Phillip Berger, both of whom reached on walks.

Orange jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind two runs in the first inning. Shortstop Joey Berini ripped a double off the left field wall, which was followed by a two-run homer by Jason Slaughter, which hugged the third-base fair pole but faded well into the trees. The Panthers loaded the bases with one out after Slaughter’s homer after a single by pitcher Dalton Brown and walked to Caige Clayton and Cooper Porter, but Dante DeFranco started a 6-4-3 double play to get the Red Wolves off the field.

In the third inning, Berini hit a leadoff single to center and moved to second after a pickoff throwing error. Clayton smashed a RBI single down the left field line to give Orange a 3-0 lead.

Orange (6-5, 4-2) is now tied with Northern Durham for third place in the Big 8.

Both Orange and Cedar Ridge will start play in the Hilltop Invitational on Thursday. Orange will host Wake County Home School on Thursday night at 7. Cedar Ridge will host First Colonial, based out of Virginia Beach, VA, on Thursday afternoon at 4:30.

Sailor Ramos is starting to get used to big games against Orange. Last season, he went 2-for-2 with an RBI double as Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 6-0, its first win over the Panthers since 2012. Last night against Orange, Ramos had a two-run double and an RBI single as the Red Wolves scored seven consecutive runs to defeat Orange 7-3 at Red Wolves Territory. Cedar Ridge goes into spring break 5-3, 3-3 in the Big 8.

Cedar Ridge LF Sailor Ramos Talks 3 RBI Night in Win vs. Orange

Sailor Ramos is starting to get used to big games against Orange. Last season, he went 2-for-2 with an RBI double as Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 6-0, its first win over the Panthers since 2012. Last night against Orange, Ramos had a two-run double and an RBI single as the Red Wolves scored seven consecutive runs to defeat Orange 7-3 at Red Wolves Territory.

To say Matthew Kahn left Cedar Ridge’s game against Orange in a better place than he found it on Thursday night would be an understatement. Kahn entered in the bottom of the third inning with Cedar Ridge down 3-0. In the subsequent four-and-a-third innings, Kahn gave up just one hit and two walks as Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 7-3 to split the series with the Panthers. Cedar Ridge is now 3-3 in the Big 8 and enters spring break right in the thick of a tight Big 8 playoff chase.

Cedar Ridge Pitcher Matthew Kahn Discusses Win Over Orange

To say Matthew Kahn left Cedar Ridge’s game against Orange in a better place than he found it on Thursday night would be an understatement. Kahn entered in the bottom of the third inning with Cedar Ridge down 3-0.