Cedar Ridge baseball has been on the tough end of many heartbreaking losses to its crosstown rival over the past seven years.
While one walkoff win in the Red Wolves favor won’t totally even things out from years of tumult against Orange, it’s sure tasted sweet for the Cedar Ridge faithful on a chilly Friday night.
Carter Warren’s line drive to left field drove in Aidan Ryan for the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth as Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 6-5 in eight innings. Warren’s only hit of the game triggered a joyous celebration for the Red Wolves, who moved into an early tie with South Granville and Seaforth for first place in the Big 7 Conference at 2-0.
It was Cedar Ridge’s first home win over Orange since 2018.
It’s been a week of unprecedented accomplishments for the Red Wolves against its archival. On Tuesday, Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 18-3 at Panther Field. When contacted on Wednesday, legendary Panthers head coach Dean Dease said he couldn’t recall any previous time in history that Cedar Ridge had defeated Orange via the run rule.
There are also no records of the Red Wolves sweeping a two-game conference series from the Panthers.
It was an emotional night for Cedar Ridge head coach Bryson Massey, who defeated Orange on his own home field for the first time since becoming the head coach of the Red Wolves in 2020.
“This is a confident group,” Massey said. “They believe. They worked really hard this offseason and there’s a lot of goals. This isn’t the only one. We’re a good hitting team and they believe they have any chance they get to swing a bat.”
In a game with three lead changes, Orange’s biggest hits of the night came from junior pinch-hitter D.J. Woods. In the eighth, Woods grounded a fastball over the third base bag into left field. Senior Gary Miller, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored from first base to put Orange ahead 5-4.
Sophomore Jesus Velazquez led off the bottom of the eighth with a double that went over the right fielder’s head to the fence. Velazquez tagged up and advanced to third after Hudson Kelly flew out to right fielder Evan Parker. Senior Aidan Ryan went opposite field on a lower liner that landed fair by five feet along the right field chalk to bring in Velazquez, squaring the game at 5-5.
All three times that Orange took the lead, Cedar Ridge responded with runs in the bottom of each inning. J.P Rodio led off the game by getting hit by a pitch. After advancing to third off a wild pitch, Mason Bullard sent a line drive that was mishandled by the third baseman, allowing Rodio to score.
Cedar Ridge rallied with two outs in its side of the first. Ian McGuffey lined a single to centerfield and stole second base. Catcher John Grove singled on a bouncing ball to right field to drive in the opening Red Wolf run.
Grove also drove in the second Cedar Ridge run in the third. Grant McGuffey, who finished 2-for-4, led off with a right field single. Freshman Will Ebron got aboard when a throw from third base pulled Orange first baseman Wren Hash off the bag, sending McGuffey to third. Grove’s left field flyout to Camden Pope left McGuffey with plenty of time to score and give the Red Wolves a 2-1 lead.
Ryan Sawyer drew a one-out walk to open the fifth. Cam Brown skied a first-pitch fastball just shy of the left field fence to score Allen Flores, running for Sawyer, evening the game 2-2.
Woods delivered a two-run double in the sixth. After Bullard and Hash chained together back-to-back singles, Woods put the Panthers ahead 4-2 with a ball that was pushed back to the left centerfield fence by the wind.
The Red Wolves aggressive base running paid immediate dividends in the bottom of the sixth. Kelly and Ryan each drew one-out walks. After Warren flew out to centerfield. Grant McGuffey grounded a ball up the middle. Rodio spiralled to the ground to knock the ball down, but couldn’t get it in his glove. Kelly raced in from second and scored off the infield hit. Ebron followed with a bouncer to third that Cam Stone knocked down with his body. Stone didn’t have time to throw to first and opted to tag out McGuffey for the third out, but not before Ryan scored first to tie the game.
“Cedar Ridge doesn’t get the respect in this county,” Massey said. “I hope this gets posted but we get treated like the red headed stepchild. We don’t get the coverage. We just keep playing. Our boys, they just love playing baseball and they love being together. They knew what this week was and they wanted it. I think you saw that this week.”
