Following a disappointing stretch of games, the Cedar Ridge baseball team got its groove back just in time for its third straight win over Eastern Alamance in Mebane.
The Red Wolves scored seven runs in the first inning, headlined by a two-run double by junior Quinn Finnegan, and went on to defeat the Eagles 12-6 at Eagles Field on Friday afternoon. Finnegan finished with a season-high five RBIs as the Red Wolves (7-10, 4-6 in the Central Conference) ended a seven-game losing streak.
Eastern Alamance won the opening game of the series 7-1 in Hillsborough on Tuesday night. Cedar Ridge has beaten the Eagles three straight times in Mebane since the two teams became league rivals in 2022.
Despite a tough start to April, the Red Wolves are still on solid ground to make the state playoffs for the third straight season. They’re currently #21 in the 3A East RPI rankings as of Sunday night going into its final two-game conference series of the season against Western Alamance this week. The Red Wolves will celebrate Senior Night against the Warriors on Friday night in Hillsborough.
Cedar Ridge had its first seven batters reach against the Eagles. Landon Dalehite, who finished 4-for-5, led off with a ground ball that rolled into left field. Ian McGuffey sent a comebacker to Eagles pitcher Conner Horner that was thrown away. Following a walk to pitcher John Grove, Nick Aitkin reached on an infield single to shortstop Tate Yount, allowing Dalehite to score. McGuffey scored when he brother, Grant McGuffey reached on a fielder’s choice where Aitkin was thrown out at second. David Schoof sent a fly ball to left field that dropped for a single, bringing in Caden Thompson, who was running for Grove. Senior Mason Cates lined a 1-1 fastball to left field to score Grant McGuffey. With two out, Finnegan skied a fly ball over the head of right fielder Jarrett Newell and landed just shy of the fence. Schoof and Cates scored easily. Dalehite, the tenth batter in the inning, lined a single to right field for the seventh run.
Eastern’s Christian Vieau singled in Rett Page in the bottom of the first to narrow the Red Wolf lead to 7-1.
Cates reached on an error to start the third inning. Hudson Kelly bunted Cates over to second base on a sacrifice. With Finnegan at the plate, Cates stole third. Finnegan knocked in Cates with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to increase the Red Wolf lead to 8-1. Dalehite lined a double to right field to send Finnegan to third, but Eastern’s Zack Merchel got a strike out to end the inning.
The Eagles whittled the Red Wolf lead down to 8-5 going into the fifth inning, but Kelly led off with a single to left field. Kelly stole seconda and went to third after a groundout by Finnegan to third base. Dalehite laced an RBI single to centerfield to score Kelly.
Eastern’s Jarrett Newel homered to right field to cut Cedar Ridge’s lead to 9-6. Once again, Finnegan came up with a key hit, this time in the sixth. After Schoof lined a single to right field, Cates reached on an error at shorstop. With two out, Finnegan doubled to centerfield to bring in Schoof and Cates.
Ian McGuffey was credited with the win, throwing 2-and-one-thirds innings. It was McGuffey’s second win of the season. Cates closed out the game throwing the final three-plus innings for his first save of the year. Cates allowed only four hits and one run, striking out two.
Last week, the Red Wolves were supposed to face Eastern Guilford, but the Wildcats canceled at the 11th hour. Chapel Hill agreed to come in as a late replacement. The Tigers, who lead the 4A DAC-VII Conference, won 9-6. Aitkin went 2-for-2 with two RBIs for the Red Wolves. Finnegan finished 1-for-2.