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After throwing a 1-hitter against Orange on Wednesday night, Cedar Ridge sophomore pitcher Phillip Berger leads the team with a 7-2 record. He has won each of his last five starts as the Red Wolves prepare for the state playoffs next week.

Now this was a 16th birthday celebration.

Beating Orange for the first time since 2012 would have been enough for Phil Berger on his birthday. The fact that he threw a one-hit shutout and held the Panthers to only three baserunners just made the birthday cake waiting for him at home taste a little sweeter.

Perhaps it was fate or karma, but Cedar Ridge’s 6-0 win over Orange was also its 16th win this season, the most by the school this decade. They finish the regular season 16-6, 7-5 in the Big 8 Conference.

Berger has won his last five starts, improving to 7-2 with a 1.83 ERA. Even the lone hit he yielded was debatable, a two-out high chopper by Orange’s Dalton Brown to 2nd baseman Jake DeFranco, who knocked it down with his glove hand and had no chance to make a throw to first.

Aside from that, all Orange could muster offensively was Caige Clayton and Jason Slaughter reaching after getting hit by pitches. The Panthers, who had scored 28 runs in its last four games, didn’t have two runners on base all day.

The six Red Wolves players who commemorated senior night waited their whole careers to beat Orange, and their time finally came on Wednesday. It came one night after Orange pounded the Red Wolves 9-1 to end Cedar Ridge’s nine-game winning streak.

In the 2nd inning, Senior Brandon Andrews started the scoring with a single over second base that scored Sailor Ramos, who finished 2-for-2 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.

Cedar Ridge added two more in the fourth, again getting production from the bottom of the order. Freshman Jake DiFranco, who finished 2-for-2 with an RBI, singled. After Andrews walked, designated hitter Adam Chnupa lined a fastball off the glove of Orange shortstop Joey Berini into centerfield, scoring Andrew and DiFranco to increase the Cedar Ridge lead to 3-0.

Ramos, who led off the fourth with a walk, scored off a sacrifice fly from Jake DiFranco.

More insurance arrived for the Red Wolves in the 6th when Dante DiFranco, a sophomore who leads the team in hits, scored on a squeeze play following a perfect bunt by Berger. Two batters later, Ramos laced a single to the gap in right field, bringing in Chris Cox.

Orange finished the regular season 12-12, 8-4 in the Big 8. The Panthers will likely make the playoffs and may finish in sole possession of 2nd place in the Big 8 if Chapel Hill loses to Northwood on Thursday.

If you’re looking for an article to make sense of the Big 8 baseball season, look somewhere else.

All you need to know is Orange went into its game against Northwood on Tuesday night coming off losses to Athens Drive  (5-11) and Western Harnett (6-14)  on Friday and Saturday in the Hilltop Invitational Tournament.

On the other hand, Northwood had won 14 in a row, was 15-2 overall, 6-0 in the Big 8, searching for its first conference championship since 2013.

Not only did Orange upset the Chargers 2-1 on Tuesday night at Panthers field, but Jayden Poteat knocked in courtesy runner Cody Evans for the game-winning run with a two-out walkoff single.

It was Poteat’s 1st RBI of the season.

Poteat was responsible for both of Orange’s runs. He led off the first inning with a single to centerfield, and scored off an infield hit by Ryan Puckett.

Orange’s Derek Lindaman earned his 4th win of the season with his 2nd complete game, yielding just one run and eight hits. He struck out four.

Northwood’s Davis Palermo took an unjustified loss, giving up just five hits and two runs, striking out six.

Following Puckett’s single, Palermo retired 16 of Orange’s next 17 batters over the following five innings. Caige Clayton’s two-out single in the third inning was the Panthers’ only baserunner in that span.

Northwood tied the game in the top of the second.  With runners at second and third, Max Hundley ripped a single to right field to score Colton Lineman. Orange right fielder Rodney Brooks made a strong throw to the plate to keep Logan Crabtree from scoring the go-ahead run. Northwood’s Bryce Davis grounded out to shortstop Joey Berini to end the inning on the next at-bat.

Orange will play Chapel Hill tonight at 6. We’ll have that broadcast here on HillsboroughSports.com.

You would think that winning your first 22 games of the season and sweeping the regular season and postseason championship in the Big 8 Conference would lead to a favorable state playoff draw for the Orange girls basketball team.

Apparently, you would be wrong.

The Lady Panthers wound up with the #2 Mideast seed once the bracket was finally released on Sunday afternoon. Orange will host 10-10 West Brunswick of the Mideastern 4A/3A Conference on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. The Trojans finished fifth in the Mideastern this season with a 4-8 record. Of West Brunswick’s 10 wins, three came against teams with winning records. Their biggest win of the season was on January 9, when they defeated Topsail 34-30. Topsail would go on to finish third in the Mideastern, the highest among 3-A teams (New Hanover and Hoggard, both 4-A squads, finished first and second, respectively).

The potential 2nd round is where the rub comes in. If Orange advances, they host Havelock or Southern Guilford. Havelock is 22-3 and tied for the Coastal Conference championship with Jacksonville, the #1 seed for the East. The Rams split the season series with Jacksonville, taking the opener 66-56 on January 13. The Cardinals came back to win 60-59 on February 7, and defeated Havelock again in the Coastal Conference tournament championship game 58-53.

In other words, Havelock was one point away from earning the top seed in the east, and 2nd seed overall. Last week’s loss put them as a 12-seed.

While some projections had Orange receiving the #1 seed in the Mideast, it was Northern Guilford who took that accolade. Both Northern Guilford and the Panthers finished the season with one loss, but Northern Guilford’s loss came in a nonconference game. Orange’s only loss of the regular season was to conference rival Northwood.

The game time for Orange-West Brunswick will be announced on Monday afternoon.

The Cedar Ridge Lady Red Wolves are also headed to the state playoffs. CRHS will travel to Clayton to face the Cleveland Rams on Tuesday. Cedar Ridge (13-13) advanced to the semifinals of the Big 8 Tournament last week, beating J.F. Webb 50-43 behind 25 points from Carrie Davis. Madison Wardlow added ten.

Before Christmas, Cedar Ridge won six of seven, including conference wins over Chapel Hill and Northern Vance. A 45-43 win over Webb on February 3 proved pivotal in making the postseason.

Davis, a senior, leads the team in scoring with 16.3 points per game.

The Big 8 will be well represented when the state playoffs begin on Tuesday. Conference rivals Northwood and J.F. Webb will meet in Pittsboro. Plus, Jacksonville will host Southern Durham, which was among the final teams to make the tournament.