For the fourth straight year, the Orange baseball team has won a game in the 3A State Playoffs. In likely its final game against a member of the Central Conference, Orange defeated Eastern Alamance 6-1 in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs on Tuesday night in Hillsborough in the third meeting between the two teams in seven days. In possibly his best performance of the year, junior Ryan Sawyer threw a three-hitter, earning his first postseason win. Sawyer retired the final 16 Eagles he faced. He didn’t concede a baserunner after the second inning and struck out six. It was Sawyer’s seventh win of the year and the tenth of his career. Second baseman Gary Miller finished 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Miller, one of many Panthers spending its first year at the varsity level, led off a three-run third inning with a single to left field. He scored off a single by Oliver Van Tiem, tying the game at 1-1. Miller dragged a gorgeous bunt single in the fourth inning. In the sixth, he scored off a single to left field by Henry Hoffman. Orange improved to 14-11 and will travel to Fayetteville to face Terry Sanford in the round of 32 on Friday night.
Orange baseball’s Ryan Sawyer and Gary Miller discuss win over Eastern Alamance
For the fourth straight year, the Orange baseball team has won a game in the 3A State Playoffs. In likely its final game against a member of the Central Conference, Orange defeated Eastern Alamance 6-1 in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs on Tuesday night in Hillsborough in the third meeting between the two teams in seven days.