The 2026 Cedar Ridge baseball team now is in a league of its own.
After winning the third baseball conference championship in school history last week with a win at South Granville, the Red Wolves became the first team to finish undefeated in conference play on Friday. The Red Wolves outscored South Granville 16-11 in Hillsborough to finish the regular season on Thursday.
After finishing the regular season 19-5 overall, the Red Wolves received a #2 seed for the 5A State Playoffs on Monday morning. Cedar Ridge receives a bye into the second round of the tournament. They will face either South Granville or Croatan on Friday night in Hillsborough.
With the bye, Cedar Ridge is already assured of playing in the second round of the state playoffs for the first time since 2018, which was the last team coached by Jamie Athas. In 2018, the Red Wolves defeated Southern Alamance 10-2 in Hillsborough before losing to Terry Sanford 7-4 in the 3A State Playoffs.
In the regular season finale, the Red Wolves scored in every inning and opened with a 4-0 lead. Sophomore Jesus Velazquez drove in Wil Ebron with a two-out single to left field for the opening run. Dominic Sena would drive in Ian McGuffey and Velazquez with a double to left field to make it 3-0.
In the second, Carter Warren delivered a leadoff single. Junior catcher John Grove knocked in Warren when he lined a double to centerfield.
The Red Wolves eventually pushed its lead to 10-3, but the Vikings scored six runs in the sixth and actually had the tying run at the plate in the sixth. South Granville’s Michael Moore lined a single to centerfield to score Evan Olson-Thornburg and Austin Dethemers. Warren threw out Cole Freeland at third base for the final out of the inning.
Cedar Ridge immediately responded with four runs in the sixth, including an RBI triple from Aiden Ryan.
