From the beginning of this season, Cedar Ridge baseball coach Bryson Massey said the strength of his team would be on the mound.
Despite losing eight seniors and starting catcher Efrain Morales, an All-State player who transferred to the P27 Baseball Academy in Lexington, SC last summer, the Red Wolves have ended this regular season backing up Massey’s prediction.
Last Friday, junior Mason Cates allowed only two hits while driving in the game’s opening run with a double to centerfield as the Red Wolves defeated Western Alamance 9-2 in Elon.
Cedar Ridge (11-9. 7-5 in the Central Carolina Conference) is the first team in the CCC to finish conference play. They won its last four CCC contests and will host a game in the CCC Tournament next week.
Sophomore Quinn Finnegan stroked a three-run homer over the left field wall in the sixth inning to put the Red Wolves ahead 8-1. All three runs came after two outs were recorded. Senior Issac Anderson stroked a double to left field. The Warriors elected to intentionally walk Cates to get to Finnegan, who made them pay a steep price.
Finnegan finished with five RBIs. He also had a sacrifice fly in the first inning when he knocked in Cates on a sacrifice fly to right field. In the second, Finnegan walked with the bases loaded to score Nicholas Aitkin, who led off the inning with a single and moved over to second on an error.
Cates, who threw a complete game, didn’t become a permanent starter until midseason. After he limited Orange to only four hits in a close 3-1 loss to the Panthers on March 30, he’s been a part of Massey’s rotation ever since.
The victories over Western Alamance followed an up-and-down Hilltop Invitational for the Red Wolves, where they won their opening game after Union Pines, but lost to Chapel Hill and Lee County at home.
Last Tuesday, Cedar Ridge responded by beating Western Alamance 12-4 in the opening game of the two-game series in Hillsborough. The Warriors led 3-0 early, but the Red Wolves scored 12 unanswered runs, triggered by a two-run homer by Cates in the third inning.
“It was a real tough week towards the end last week,” Massey said. “But challenging the guys the way we did against two really good teams, Chapel Hill and Lee County, I think that prepared us for this week. We got down early on Tuesday night. We talked about that heavily last week. Getting down early and not giving up and being ready to fight. Obviously, it’s not the ideal situation, but the guys fought back and got it done.”
In the series opener against Western Alamance, Grant McGuffey evened things on a RBI single to left field, scoring B.J. Thornton. The Red Wolves took the lead for good in the fourth when Ian McGuffey was hit by a pitch. Aitkin drew a walk and Will Tippin singled to right field to load the bases.
With two out, Finnegan reached on an error by the shortstop to score Tippin and Aitkin to put the Red Wolves ahead 5-3. After Thornton walked, Grant McGuffey legged out an infield single to score Anderson.
On his senior night, Thornton earned the victory on the mound. He struck out nine over six innings, allowing only four hits and four runs, one of which was earned. Grant McGuffey finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Cates went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Finnegan added a triple.
It was also senior night for Anderson and Tippin.
Cedar Ridge will finish their regular season with a trip to Roxboro to face Roxboro Community School. The game will be played at Optimist Park on Wednesday night at 7 PM. Optimist Park was formerly the home of the North Carolina Semi-Pro Baseball Tournament and has hosted games with Person High School, as well.