Discretely, Cedar Ridge baseball accomplished more than just a requisite 12-2 blowout of Southern Durham on Wednesday night.
They guaranteed themselves its first winning season since 2012, when they finished 13-11 under then-coach Jackson Lowe.
More importantly, the Red Wolves (13-5) are 6-4 in the Big 8, percentage points ahead of Orange for third place. Cedar Ridge will play Orange twice next week. The top three teams in the Big 8 qualify for the state playoffs, which has a 64-team field. Cedar Ridge’s sweep of J.F. Webb last week greatly helped its chances of making the playoffs as a wildcard.
As for Wednesday night, CRHS scored six runs in the first inning and never looked back, securing its second 5-inning victory over the Spartans in seven days.
First baseman Chris Cox went 1-for-1 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI.
Junior left fielder Sailor Ramos drove in three runs on two singles. Sophomore Dante DeFranco increased his hitting streak to 12 games by going 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. DeFranco leads the team with a .381 batting average.
Senior Brandon Andrews earned the win despite pitching only two innings. He struck out five of the seven batters he faced. Andrews is now 5-1 on the season.
Before the critical series against Orange, Cedar Ridge plays two non-conference games. They travel to Carrboro on Friday. On Monday, they host Oxford Prep in a game rescheduled from Tuesday.