Orange Baseball

It was a strong bounce back performance for the Orange baseball team in the second game of its series against Western Alamance on Monday night. After losing to the Warriors last week in Elon, the Panthers defeated the Warriors 10-1 for its first Central Conference victory of the season. Freshman Kayden Bradsher started the game with a triple to right centerfield and would score the opening run off a groundout by Cameron Guentensberger. Freshman Oliver Van Tiem hit the first home run of his Panther career with a solo blast in the second inning. Orange jumped on mistakes by the Warriors, who committed six errors. Bradsher has been the leadoff hitter for all nine of Orange’s games. He finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Van Tiem has also played in all nine games and earned the start on the mound against Northern Guilford on Tuesday. Van Tiem had two RBIs against the Warriors. Bradsher was also a starter at wide receiver for the Orange football team last fall. The Panthers are 1-1 in the Central Conference and will face Cedar Ridge on Tuesday night at Red Wolves Field. The Panthers will host Cedar Ridge at Panther Field next Friday to conclude a crucial two-game series.

Orange baseball’s Kaden Bradsher & Oliver Van Tiem discuss win over Western Alamance

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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.

While the Orange baseball team has lost six starters from its 2023 Central Conference championship team, its pitching staff has largely returned intact.

In its final dress rehearsals before conference play begins this week, Orange showed off its strengths in two shutout victories.

On Wednesday night, senior Josiah Gibbs tossed six scoreless innings with a career-high nine strikeouts in a 5-0 win over Northwood in Pittsboro. Gibbs led Orange with seven victories last season as he was pressed into the starting rotation following injuries to Ryan Hench (now redshirting at UNC) and Cross Clayton. Against the Chargers, he scattered only two hits and retired the first nine batters he faced before Finn Sullivan singled to start the fourth.

Gibbs has a two-run lead before he even threw a pitch. After freshman Kayden Bradsher drew a leadoff walk in the first at-bat of the game, senior Wyatt Hedrick went opposite field for his first career homer over the right field wall.

Bradsher and Hedrick would pair again in the fifth. Bradsher drew a walk, then stole second and third bases. Hedrick sent a deep fly to centerfield that went over the head of Northwood’s Jake Leighton, allowing Bradsher to score standing up. Senior Cameron Guentensberger lined a single to left field to bring in Hedrick. Clayton, starting at shortstop, increased the Panther lead to 5-0 when he reached off an error on a ground ball to second base, scoring Guentensberger.

Gibbs thwarted any attempt at a comeback. He allowed only two baserunners in six innings, neither of whom touched second base. Coltin Hedrick, who has committed to play at Wake Tech along with his twin brother, tossed a scoreless seventh to complete Orange’s first shutout of the season, strikeout out two.

It was Orange’s seventh straight win over the Chargers, dating back to 2019.

On Thursday night, the Panthers shutout Grimsley 12-0 in Hillsborough, the Panthers first run-rule victory of the season.

Clayton, in his second start of the year, struck out seven in four innings for his first victory of the season and the 14th of his career. The last Orange pitcher to earn 20 wins in his career was Bryse Wilson, now with the Milwaukee Brewers. Wilson graduated in 2016.

Clayton has worked to recover from an injury that ended his junior season prematurely last May and caused him to miss all of travel ball last summer. He made his second start against the Whirlies and appeared in midseason form, retiring the first eight batters and giving up a scant single to Grimsley’s Will Rainwater on a meager dribbler over second base.

It was another game that Bradsher, a freshman, proved his worth as a leadoff batter. He was hit by a pitch by Grimsley starter Levi Ponder. Wyatt Hedrick lined a single to right. Bradsher didn’t skip a beat as he rounded for third base. Guentensberger scored Bradsher on a groundout to Grimsley second baseman Holden Barnwell. Following a walk to Clayton, catcher Ryan Horton laced a line drive to the left field gap that rolled to the fence, scoring Hedrick. Freshman Oliver Van Tiem hit a grounder to first baseman Max Snyder, who tried to throw out Clayton at the plate. Clayton slid under the tag of catcher J.T. Simmons for Orange’s third run.

Orange broke it open with eight runs in the third inning, sending 13 batters to the plate. Wyatt Hedrick started with a single to left field. Later, he would tag a two-run triple down the right field line to score Wren Hash and Bradsher. Van Tiem had a RBI single to score Guentensberger, who walked to conclude a 13-pitch at-bat. Horton walked with the bases-loaded for his second RBI. Hash earned his first career RBI with another bases-loaded walk.

Orange will travel to Western Alamance for its conference opener on Tuesday night.

Offense has been slow to come by for Orange baseball so far in the young season.

Thankfully, Tommy could hear their pleas for offense.

Well, it was really Ryan Horton, whose nickname is “Tommy” because that’s his middle name. Horton had never homered in a varsity game as he stepped up to plate in the sixth inning against Topsail on Monday night.

Then hit delivered the biggest swing of his career.

Horton delivered a grand slam, Orange’s third hit of the game, to provide a 4-1 win over Topsail in Hillsborough.

Junior Garrett Sawyer earned his second career win in relief of senior starter Cross Clayton. Sawyer allowed just three hits with four strikeouts in four innings work.

To say that Horton’s grand slam came out of nowhere would be putting it mildly. Orange had just two singles up to that point, and one of those rolled roughly 50 feet up the third base line off the stick of Henry Hoffman. Hoffman led off the fourth inning with a single to centerfield, the first ball to land in the outfield off an Orange batter. But the Panthers failed to lay down a bunt on the next at-bat and Hoffman wound up getting doubled up off a smooth play by Topsail catcher Gavin Schoenwiesner.

Orange (2-1) trailed the whole game. Topsail’s Rhett Britt doubled into right centerfield, the deepest part of the ballpark. With two down, Gibson Todd lined a 1-2 fastball to right field for the Pirates’ only run.

Senior Cross Clayton, with 13 career victories, started for Orange and threw three innings. After giving up the opening run, Clayton allowed just one more hit before yielding to Sawyer in the fourth.

Topsail starter Drew Shelar, making his varsity debut, kept Orange at bay. He threw five shutout innings and allowed just two hits and one walk. Caleb Kelley replaced Shelar in the sixth.

Orange freshman Kayden Bradsher opened the sixth with a leadoff walk. The Panthers nearly botched another bunt situation when Kelley caught a pop-up, then attempted to throw out Bradsher at first base. But the throw got away from first baseman Tyler Wilson and Bradsher moved over to second base. It was ruled that Cameron Guentensberger got hit with a pitch on the elbow, though Guentensberger didn’t seem to know it until the umpire motioned for him to move to first base. Clayton drew a walk to load the bases, leading to Horton’s first career home run.

Sawyer struck out Wes Atkinson and pinch-hitter Andrew Schmidt to open the seventh. Then Luke Keenan grounded out to Sawyer to end the game.

Wake Forest 3, Cedar Ridge 0: Facing the defending 4A Eastern Regional champions who were one win away from the state championship in 2023, Cedar Ridge didn’t back down in its home opener on Monday night.

The Red Wolves trailed 1-0 going into the sixth inning before James Bradbury scored off a double steal in the sixth inning. Bradbury drew a walk to lead off the frame.

Cedar Ridge’s Quinn Finnegan struck out five in four-plus innings, allowing just one run. The Red Wolves loaded the bases in the second inning against Cougars starter Jackson Hardy. Nick Aitkin reached on an infield single, Grant McGuffey lined a single to centerfield. Finnegan reached on a bunt. But the Cougars turned a double play when Kyle Brazeau caught a bunt and threw out Aitkin at the plate. Hardy got a strikeout to end the threat.

Then Brazeau drove in the first run of the game with a double that one-hopped the wall in right field. Ian Williams, who finished 2-for-4, scored after he started the inning with a single to centerfield.

McGuffey went 2-for-3 for Cedar Ridge. The Red Wolves are scheduled to travel to Carrboro on Wednesday. They will start its Central Conference slate against Walter Williams in Burlington on Tuesday night.