With only two-and-a-half seasons under his belt at Cedar Ridge, Bryson Massey is still young in his coaching career.
However long his career lasts, he’ll have plenty of pleasant stories to tell about Friday night in a wild doubleheader at Eastern Alamance.
How often does a team trail 5-2 in the seventh inning, then score six runs in the final frame? Against a team tied for first place in the conference?
And how often does a pitcher, called up from the junior varsity earlier in the day, throws over three innings in his varsity debut against said 1st place team? And how often does a team score eight runs in a game–off two hits?
That’s a lot of questions that worked in Cedar Ridge’s favor Friday night. In a Central Carolina Conference that seems to deliver a surprise almost every night, Cedar Ridge swept a doubleheader from Eastern Alamance, rallying to win the opening game 8-5, then taking the nightcap 8-7 in Mebane.
The sweep not only knocked Eastern Alamance out of a tie with Orange for first place in the CCC, but the Red Wolves are now tied with the Eagles for second place with a 5-3 conference mark. The Red Wolves start a two-game series against Western Alamance tonight in Elon.
“This shows how much we’ve grown this season,” Massey said. “I’ve said this team doesn’t quit at any point. They didn’t on opening night against Chapel Hill and I didn’t think they would going into the seventh inning tonight. They’ve worked hard in practice this week and I think that showed tonight.”
In the opener, Eastern Alamance had senior starter Joey Teixeria on the mound, who was on a four-game winning streak. He took a 5-2 lead into the seventh inning, but Cedar Ridge’s Mason Cates and Garrett Ray opened with singles. Freshman Quinn Finnegan, as a pinch-hitter, drew a walk to juice the bases. Eastern Alamance inserted Kasen McCawley as pitcher to replace Teixeria, who struck the next batter out. Cedar Ridge’s Brian Flores started the rally after he was hit by a pitch, scoring Cates. B.J. Thornton was also hit by a pitch, which brought Ray to home plate and reduce the Eagle lead to 5-4. With the bases still loaded, senior Aidan McCallister sent a sharply hit grounder that got past the third baseman and trickled into the outfield, allowing Finnegan and Flores to score and vault Cedar Ridge into the lead for the first time at 6-5.
The Red Wolves weren’t done. With two out, sophomore Efrain Morales drew a walk to load the bases again. Cates, in his second at-bat in the inning, singled to right field to score Thornton.
It wasn’t smooth sailing in the seventh inning for Cedar Ridge. Junior catcher Cole McGuiness hit a leadoff double, while Colton Roberston also singled. Tristan Keck hit a liner to Flores at third base. Flores threw to Morales, who tagged out McGinnis trying to score at the plate. Finnegan earned his first career save when Jackson Saunders grounded out to Cristian Macias at second base, triggering an emotional celebration by the Red Wolves in the dugout.
Brian Flores earned the win, throwing six innings, his second victory of the season.
If the first game was one for drama, the second one was straight out of Moneyball. The objective for Cedar Ridge was getting on base, which they did courtesy of 14 walks issued by Eastern Alamance pitchers. The Red Wolves had just as many hits (two) as hit batters.
“We’ve taught our batters to stay patient at the plate,” Massey said. “We want them to wait for their pitch. The most important thing is to get on base and I thought they handled that well.”
After the Eagles charged out to a 4-0 lead, Cedar Ridge scored all eight of its runs in the second inning. Morales and Cates each walked, while Will Tippin also had a base on balls to load the bases with one out. Finnegan walked to score Morales. With two out, Thornton walked to plate Cates. McCawley came in as pitcher, but Tippin came in to score off a wild pitch. McCallister was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, which led to Macias reaching on a five-pitch walk, scoring Finnegan and tying the game. Morales lined a double over the head of the centerfielder to plate Thornton and McAllister. Cates drew another walk, leading to Ray drawing a bases-loaded walk to score Macias. Tippin was the latest player to walk, plating Morales and giving Cedar Ridge an 8-4 lead.
While Finnegan, after earning the save in the opening game, got the win in the second game, the unsung hero of the night was freshman Nick Atkins. Since it was Cedar Ridge’s first doubleheader of the season (after Tuesday’s game scheduled in Hillsborough had been rained out), Massey told Atkins he would get called up from the junior varsity team earlier in the day.
“I though maybe we could get a few good innings out of him,” Massey said. “He did a lot better than that.”
Atkins threw three-and-two-thirds innings and struck out three. He allowed just two runs on five hits.
Once again, Cedar Ridge had to earn it when the Eagles cut the lead down to 8-7 in the seventh inning. Thornton, who started the game in right field, relieved Atkins in the seventh inning and retired the Eagles in order for his first save of the season and a doubleheader sweep that will dramatically alter the Central Carolina Conference pennant chase in numerous ways.