Orange Baseball

If the 2023 Central Carolina Conference baseball season was a movie, it would be called “Coaches Plan, Mother Nature Laughs.”

For instance, when Orange coach Jason Knapp released his scheduled in January, he had seven games scheduled for Friday nights.

A grand total of two of them went according to schedule. The other five were either postponed or canceled because of rain.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg in regards to scheduling headaches that Knapp and Cedar Ridge coach Bryson Massey have faced for the past ten weeks. On Monday night, the CCC Tournament was supposed to begin but didn’t since the regular season still isn’t over.

Last Friday, CCC Athletic Directors voted to streamline the tournament from seven teams down to four. Orange will host Cedar Ridge on Wednesday night in one semifinal. #2 Walter Williams will host #3 Person in Burlington.

The CCC Tournament championship game will be on Thursday night at the higher-seeded team.

Orange will officially end its regular season tonight when they host Eastern Alamance for Senior Night. It will be the final regular season home game for seniors Ryan Hench, Jackson Berini, Joey Pounds, David Waitt, Connor Nordan, Neo Best, Kent Melvin, Ryan Doherty, and Ty Walker.

The Panthers have already wrapped up the CCC regular season championship after beating Eastern Alamance 10-1 in Mebane. Under a seven-team format, Orange had a bye into the semifinals while the other six teams would have had to play on Monday. That granted Orange an advantage in pitching.

Now, in order to win the CCC Tournament, Orange will have to play three games in three days.

Not to mention that Cedar Ridge is hungry for a win over its crosstown rival. The Red Wolves haven’t won at Orange High Field since 2012, but they came very close last year in the 3A State Playoffs.

In the opening round, the Red Wolves led 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning before Cameron Guentensberger scored David Waitt on a squeeze play to even the game. In the ninth inning, Davis Horton drove in Conner Funk with a walkoff single to centerfield.

With a state playoff birth already in the bag, Cedar Ridge will be playing to improve its seeding. The Red Wolves are currently #23 in the 3A East RPI rankings. If the season ended today, Cedar Ridge would face Northern Lakes Champion Carrboro on the road in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Cedar Ridge rallied from a 9-5 deficit to defat Roxboro Community School 10-9 last week at Optimist Park in Roxboro. The Red Wolves scored five runs in the seventh inning and got the game-winning run when Will Tippin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Landon Dalehite.

For the first time since the beginning of the season, Orange has a healthy pitching staff. Against Eastern Alamance last week, Hench made his first pitching appearance since March 8. He struck out six over three shutout innings. Junior Josiah Gibbs earned his sixth win of the season, throwing three innings of middle relief. Gibbs also struck out six and allowed only one hit.

Orange is currently the #2 seed in the RPI rankings and will hope for a better conference tournament result than last year. In 2022, Person upset Orange 4-0 in the CCC semifinals in Hillsborough. Person’s Dylan England held Orange scoreless in five innings of relief. The Panthers mustered only two hits.

Against Eastern Alamance on Tuesday night, the Panthers will go for a 20-win regular season. The last time the Panthers won 20 games in only the regular season, it was the 2014 season when Bryse Wilson was a sophomore. The Panthers had to play a majority of its home games that season on the road because of an ice storm that did heavy damage to Panther Field in early March.

For the third year in a row, the Orange baseball team has won a conference championship. And that may not be the only milestone the Panthers achieve this year. On Tuesday night, the Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance 10-1. It secured Orange’s 19th win of the season. The last Orange team to win 20 games in the regular season was the 2014 squad, which played 23 games in the regular season. This Orange team will end the regular season with 22 games. Senior pitcher Ryan Hench made his return to the mound against the Eagles after being injured on March 8 against Greensboro Grimsley. Hench blasted a two-run homer in the sixth inning to put the Panthers ahead 7-1. Junior centerfielder Cameron Guentensberger had another strong night at the plate, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Guentensberger also had five catches in centerfield. Josiah Gibbs earned his team-leading sixth win of the season, throwing three innings and allowing only one hit. Orange will finish its regular season tonight (Thursday) against Eastern Alamance. With the conference championship, Orange will have a bye into the semifinals of next week’s CCC Tournament. They will also have home-field advantage for the tournament.

Orange baseball’s Ryan Hench and Cameron Guentensberger discuss winning the CCC Championship

For the third year in a row, the Orange baseball team has won a conference championship. And that may not be the only milestone the Panthers achieve this year. On Tuesday night, the Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance 10-1. It secured Orange’s 19th win of the season.

MEBANE—At the beginning of the season, no one would have batted an eye if the Orange baseball team entered its final road game of the season needing a win to take the Central Carolina Conference championship.

Aside from Connor Funk and Cesar Lozano, their entire pitching staff from 2022 was back, including starters Ryan Hench, Cross Clayton and Joey Pounds. So were their top six hitters from last year.

Indeed, Orange emerged from Mebane on Tuesday night with a 10-1 victory over Eastern Alamance to win the CCC title. The path to the title may have looked simple to the naked eye, but it really didn’t happen that way at all.

Shortly after winning the season-opener against East Chapel Hill, Clayton suffered an injury to his throwing hand that kept him from pitching for over a month, including the opening two conference series. Hench was injured in the fourth game of the year against Grimsley in Greensboro on March 8. He didn’t return to the mound until Tuesday night.

All told, Orange’s tandem of Hench and Clayton completed one trip through the rotation together during opening week–and that’s it.

As fate would have it, Hench made his long-awaited return to the mound on Tuesday night at the very place where his Orange career started. In March 2020, he made his Panther debut as a freshman in relief of Mason Thompson and closed out a 6-2 win over Eastern Alamance in Mebane. A week later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season.

On Tuesday, Hench returned and showed glimpses of his power that led to him committing to North Carolina. Hench slammed a two-run homer in the sixth as Orange (19-2, 9-2 in the CCC) pulled away from the Eagles 10-1 at Eagle Field.

It’s Orange’s third straight conference championship, their second outright CCC title. In 2021, the Panthers tied Northern Durham for the Big 8 Conference championship through a strange format where only the first meetings between conference rivals counted in the standings.

For head coach Jason Knapp, it’s a championship worth savoring.

“I’ve been coaching for 24 years,” Knapp said. “My first 19 years, I only won one conference championship. So these things don’t come easy. Now, we’ve won three straight conference titles. I specifically talked to those seniors and told them how proud I am of them and what they’ve brought to the table. Of all those seniors, Berini, Waitt, Hench and Pounds, they were all a corps that started it during their sophomore seasons during the pandemic. They have all been leaders since that time.”

Playing on its senior night, Eastern Alamance came into the game with eight straight conference losses. The Panthers jumped right on them with three runs in the opening inning. Jackson Berini, who has scored a run in 18 of Orange’s 21 games, drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and eventually scored a wild pitch third strike, which Hench swung and missed at. Junior centerfielder Cameron Guentensberger, who finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, bounced a grounder dead over the middle into centerfield to score Hench. Catcher Ryan Horton drove a double to the right field gap to bring in Guentensberger.

Eastern countered with a threat against Hench in their opening at-bat. Senior pitcher Cole McGuiness doubled down the third base line. Gage Parsons took a fastball  deep to centerfield, which backed Guentensberger up all the way to the fence for the catch. McGuiness reached third with one out, but Landon Linens flew out to Guentensberger and Hench struck out Garrett Cloutier to end the threat.

Guentensberger made four putouts on the night.

“Cameron is the most underrated player on this team,” Knapp said. “He’s a solid centerfielder. After McGuiness led off with that double, Cameron backed up against the fence to make that catch. He made a great player and got it in quick. If he keeps swinging the bat and we make a deep run, he’s going to show people he’s a next level guy.”

With one out in the second, Elijah Santos drew a walk. David Waitt reached on a dropped liner in the infield. Hench walked to load the bases. Senior Connor Nordan lined a 0-1 fastball to centerfield to score Waitt and Santos. Nordan leads Orange with 32 RBIs.

Hench pitched three scoreless innings during his stint. In the third, Triston Keck reached third base after a dropped third strike wild pitch, which led to Parsons reaching. Hench struck out Linens for his final out.

“Ryan was what I thought he was going to be,” Knapp said. “There was a bit of rust. I could tell he was juiced up and ready to go. He was amped and wasn’t hitting the spot in the first couple of batters. But then he settled in and got out of the first inning jam. He had a clean inning in the second. I felt like he needed to pitch the third to get into a rhythm. It’s good to have him back on the field.”

Josiah Gibbs replaced Hench and earned his sixth win of the season. In three innings, Gibbs struck out six and conceded just one hit–a solo homer by McGuiness in the fifth, the Eagles’ only run of the game.

Guentensberger lined a two-run single in the seventh to score Waitt and Hench. Earlier, Nordan knocked in Berini with a RBI groundout to Cloutier at third base.

With the conference championship, Orange will get a bye into the semifinals of next week’s Central Carolina Conference Tournament. Orange will also be seeded among the top 11 teams in the East Region of the 3A State Tournament. As of Wednesday, Orange is ranked #3 in the RPI East Region rankings behind J.H. Rose and Currituck County.

The Orange baseball team is one win oway from taking its third straight conference championship. On Friday night, Orange registered a season-high 17 hits in a 12-5 win over Northwood on Friday night in Pittsboro. Junior Cross Clayton earned the win to improve to 5-0. Clayton only surrendered five hits in five innings. He also went 2-for-2 with four RBIs, including a two-run homer in the sixth inning. Senior David Waitt went 2-for-3 with three runs scored. Waitt has a .403 batting average this season and leads the team with 25 hits. The Panthers are now 18-2. With one more win, they will become the most successful team in the five-year tenure of head coach Jason Knapp. The Panthers haven’t won 20 games in the regular season since the 2013 season. Orange would likely have 20 wins by now if non conference games against Northern Guilford and Wakefield hadn’t been canceled. Orange starts a two-game series against Eastern Alamance on Tuesday in Mebane. They will complete the set on Friday night in Hillsborough, which will also be senior night. Seniors Waitt, Jackson Berini, Ryan Hench, Joey Pounds, Connor Nordan, Neo Best, Ty Walker, Kent Melvin, and Ryan Doherty will all be honored during a pregame ceremony.

Orange baseball’s Cross Clayton and David Waitt discuss being in first place in CCC

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Baseball: Orange 9, Southwestern Randolph 1: With four scheduled games remaining in the regular season, the Orange baseball team remains on pace for its most successful regular season since 2015.

The Panthers improved to 17-2 as they pulled away late against Southwestern Randolph in Asheboro with seven runs in the seventh inning.

Senior Joey Pounds, who has committed to play at Barton College, earned his second win of the season. Pounds struck out a season-high seven batters over five innings, allowing only three hits. The game remained scoreless through three innings.

In the top of the fourth, senior David Waitt, Orange’s leading hitter, singled to left field. Connor Nordan sent a fly ball that went over the head of the right fielder, which allowed Waitt to score for the opening run. Cameron Guentensberger reached on an infield single and junior Ryan Honeycutt loaded the bases off a walk. Wyatt Hedrick sent a sacrifice fly to right field, which was deep enough to allow Nordan to score and increase the Panther lead to 2-0.

Southwestern Randolph (9-10) scored its only run in the bottom of the fourth. Tyler Parks reached on an error. Easton Clapp sent a line drive to left field to score Parks, who advanced to second earlier in the at-bat on a wild pitch.

The Cougars used eight different pitchers. Orange broke through against the final one. The Panthers sent eleven batters to the plate in the final inning, starting with Ryan Horton getting walked. Elijah Santos was hit by a pitch and Jackson Berini drew another walk to load the bases. With Waitt at the plate, Neo Best, running for Horton, scored off a wild pitch.

After Waitt walked, Nordan also reached on a base on balls to bring in Santos. Guentensberger lined a double to left field, scoring Berini and Waitt. Honeycutt sent a line drive to right field to bring in Guentensberger. Neo reached on an infield single, scoring courtesy runner Ty Walker.

Garrett Sawyer earned his first save for Orange. He threw two perfect innings with two strikeouts.

Softball: Orange 12, Northern Durham 1: Junior Caden Robinson celebrated her 100th strikeout of the season, striking out the side in the first inning as Orange cruised to an easy victory at Knights Softball Field.

Senior Breezy Foster earned the win in the circle for Orange. She threw four innings and allowed only five hits.

Senior Serenity McPherson hit her third home run of the season with a two-run blast to centerfield in the second inning. Carson Bradsher knocked in the first run with a line drive to left field, scoring Sadie Cecil. Freshman Katie Carden sent a bouncing ball up the middle for a base hit. Bradsher motored in from second to make it 2-0.

The Lady Panthers added three more runs in the third. Carden and Delaney Shaffer reached on errors. Foster sent a line drive double to right field to score both runners. Foster would eventually score off a wild pitch.

McPherson led off the fourth inning with a double to left field. McPherson stole third and scored off a sacrifice fly by Cecil to centerfield. Bradsher, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored, singled to centerfield. Robinson, who remained in the game in right field, also singled to right field. Carden sent a line drive to right field to score Bradsher and Robinson. Foster singled to centerfield, scoring Carden.

Orange is 9-4 and currently ranked #7 in the 3A East RPI rankings, the highest of any team in the region that isn’t leading their conference.

Carden finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Foster finished 2-for-2 with three RBIs.

It was Orange’s final game at Northern Durham’s softball field. Northern will move to a new location in August.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior pitcher Cross Clayton. Last week, Clayton earned his 11th career win os the Panthers defeated Lee County 4-1 in the Hilltop Invitational at Orange High School. It was his first complete game of the season. Following the win, Orange rose to #2 in the 3A East RPI Rankings, trailing only J.H. Rose. On April 3, Clayton struck out a career-high 13 batters against Person in Hillsborough. In a scoreless game, Clayton broke it open with a home run to left field in the bottom of the fifth, which turned out to be the game-winning run. Last year, Clayton led Orange with eight wins as the Panthers won the Central Carolina Conference regular season championship. At one point in the 2022 season, Clayton had 23 consecutive scoreless innings. He was named the 2022 CCC Pitcher of the Year. In 2022, he finished with an 8-3 record and a 2.59 ERA. It was the most wins by a first-year Orange pitcher in a season since Bryse Wilson, now with the Milwaukee Brewers, went 11-0 in his freshman year. Clayton had battled injury to return to the mound, but has regularly played second base throughout this season. Orange will continue its season tonight against Northwood in Hillsborough. Then the Panthers will travel to Southwestern Randolph on Wednesday.

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This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior pitcher Cross Clayton. Last week, Clayton earned his 11th career win os the Panthers defeated Lee County 4-1 in the Hilltop Invitational at Orange High School. It was his first complete game of the season.