ELON—By the seventh inning, Orange was essentially beating its head against the wall without anyone telling them to stop.
In a typically tense conference opener which led to short tempers on and off the field, the Panthers were mired in a scoreless deadlock with Western Alamance. Despite a measly two hits through six innings, Orange had every conceivable chance to break the draw, but failed every time.
Finally, they pulled it off in the most inconceivable way.
Junior shortstop Jackson Berini, who reached on a one-out single to left field, stole home with two out in the bottom-of-the-seventh inning for the game’s only run. On a 1-2 pitch, cleanup batter David Waitt took ball two outside, just a whisker to the right of the plate. Western Alamance catcher Landon Rose, who thought the pitch was good enough to get the Warriors out of inning, methodically threw the ball back to pitcher Shepard Goodwin. As Goodwin took the ball, he briefly turned his back. That’s when Berini bolted down the line from third, running like he had $10,000 in his hands.
Goodwin, momentarily caught off guard, threw to Rose at the plate, but he never secured the ball. Berini slid in safely as the ball rolled free to send an Orange dugout, which has been loud all night, into a frenzy as the struggle finally ended.
“It was Jackson’s decision all the way,” Orange coach Jason Knapp said. “I gave him the green light. He made a great read. With every pitch they threw to David, he was stretching it and stretching it. Big time players make big time plays.”
Orange’s Cross Clayton, who replaced starter Ryan Hench in the fifth inning, threw two shutout innings for his first career win. Clayton made a crucial play in the seventh when leadoff batter Tyler Atkins grounded a ball to first. As the ball rebounded off the first baseman, a sprawling Conner Funk, who had just moved to second from left field to replace Clayton at 2nd base, dove for the ball and flipped to Clayton to beat Atkins to the bag. Clayton struck out the final two Warriors, then pantomimed sticking a sword back in his sheath following a victorious dual as the Panther spilled out of the third base dugout.
Though it was Orange’s Central Carolina Conference opener, there was a late season intensity in the air. The Warriors (3-3, 2-1 in the CCC) opened conference play with a two-game sweep of Person last week. Orange, which was exempt from the first week of CCC action, came into Elon after a dour 8-2 loss to Corinth-Holders in Wendell.
It was a game that had all the trappings of a pitcher’s dual. Orange’s Hench and Western Alamance’s Owen Bynum (the son of former Orange softball player Brandy Gourley Bynum) didn’t disappoint. Hench, Bynum and Orange’s Connor Funk have played on the same travel league team in Burlington and even traveled to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY together.
Hench threw five shutout innings, allowing just three hits on seven strikeouts and two walks. The Warriors never got a runner to third base.
Bynum tossed three shutout innings and conceded just one hit. He struck out two, but was replaced by Goodwin in the fourth.
Orange’s timely hitting follies started in the second. After Waitt drew a leadoff walk, Hench bunted him to second base. Designated hitter Connor Nordan singled to right field, but the Panthers grounded into a double play when Western’s Alex Nebrig threw to Eric Wagoner, who tossed to Aiden McCandless to end the first serious threat.
In the third, Orange loaded the bases with one out. Clayton led off with a walk. After Cameron Guentensberger laid a bunt down, Connor Funk reached on an error. Berini walked to juice the bases, but Bynum got a strikeout. Then Bynum made a spectacular play in covering first after Nebrig came up with a grounder. Nebrig tossed it to Bynum, who beat Waitt to the bag to provide another perfect escape.
Hench and Nordan each walked to start the fourth. Hench advanced to third after wild pitches with no one out. Goodwin replaced Gourley and struck out three straight Panthers to keep it scoreless.
In the sixth, Hench lined a one-out double to left field. He reached third with one out after a wild pitch. Orange loaded the bases after Joey Pounds walked and pinch-hitter Cesar Lozano was hit by a pitch. With two out, Goodwin forced a groundout to Nebrig to deny yet another Orange opportunity.
“That’s baseball,” Knapp said. “We preach to the guys competing in the offseason, competing against each other, competing in practice. When we’re out here in a game, it’s just second nature to compete. Yeah, we need to do a better job of timely hitting. But the guys never gave up.”
While pitching depth was a disappointment for Orange in non conference losses to Middle Creek and Corinth Holders, Hench and Clayton were solid in the late innings. The Warriors went hitless in the final four innings. After the third inning, just one Warrior touched second base.
The Warriors travel to Orange to complete the two-game series on Friday.