It’s official. Next week’s two-game series with Orange and J.F. Webb will be a battle of the unbeaten in the Big 8 Conference. The Panthers shutout Northwood 3-0 on Friday night in Pittsboro. Orange senior Kristina Givens threw her eighth shutout of the season as the Panthers improved to 14-1 overall, 8-0 in the Big 8. Orange travels to Webb in Oxford on Tuesday night at 6.
For four years, Northwood baseball has tried to climb past Orange in the Big 8 pecking order. On Friday night, their time finally arrived.
After losing all seven of its games to Orange since becoming a 3A team in 2013, the Chargers dominated the Panthers 9-2 on Friday night at the Ronald Horton Baseball Complex in Pittsboro.
The win puts the Chargers two games ahead of Orange and Chapel Hill for 1st place in the Big 8 with four conference games remaining. Northwood finishes the regular season with two contests against the Tigers.
Orange (8-10, 4-3 in the Big 8) has now lost four of its last five.
The Panthers scored first after Jayden Poteat started the game with a single. After Poteat stole second, Jason Slaughter knocked him in with a single to right.
Yet the Chargers quickly put to rest any hopes the Panthers had of a repeat of Tuesday night’s 2-1 upset win in Hillsborough. Catcher Matt Oldham laced a triple off the centerfield wall, scoring leadoff batter Matt Hundley. Pitcher Patrick Szczypinki scored Hundley off a single, and the Chargers never trailed again.
Northwood added three more in the second. After Trey Romel singled, Hundley bunted and beat out a throw by pitcher Dalton Brown. Davis launched a 2-1 fastball to centerfield that got caught in the centerfield fence, leading to a ground rule double, scoring Romel. Oldham followed with a double down the right field line thatplated Davis and Hundley to push the Northwood lead to 5-1.
Orange’s final round came when freshman Dalton Brown singled. After Brown moved to third following an errant pickoff throw, freshman Joey Berini got an RBI single to right.
The Panthers return to Panther Field on Saturday to face Archbishop Moeller out of Cincinnati, Ohio at noon.
Not only is Cedar Ridge baseball firmly in the race for one of the three Big 8 state playoff spots, but the Red Wolves pitching is finding its groove at the right time.
Sophomore Phillip Berger threw a one-hit shutout, striking out ten as Cedar Ridge defeated J.F. Webb 4-0 on Thursday in Oxford. The Red Wolves (12-5, 5-4 in the Big 8) have won six in a row and head into the final two weeks of the regular season in fourth place in the Big 8, one game in the loss column behind Orange and Chapel Hill for 2nd.
Sophomore Dante DiFranco and senior Brandon Andrews each doubled and scored, finishing 1-for-2. Junior Chris Cox had an RBI, as did Erik Zehnder.
Following the first complete game of his career, Berger improved to 5-2 with a 1.84 ERA. His previous best for longest outing came last week in the Hilltop Invitational, when he gave up six hits in six innings in a 9-3 victory over Western Harnett.
In three games this week, the Red Wolves outscored opposition 33-0. In Wednesday’s 20-0 rout of Southern Durham, Evan Hall and Zehnder combined on a five inning no-hitter. Andrews hit his third homer of the season, while Zehnder added two doubles.
Cedar Ridge hosts Oxford Preparatory on Monday, then welcomes Southern Durham for a home game Wednesday.
If you’re looking for an article to make sense of the Big 8 baseball season, look somewhere else.
All you need to know is Orange went into its game against Northwood on Tuesday night coming off losses to Athens Drive (5-11) and Western Harnett (6-14) on Friday and Saturday in the Hilltop Invitational Tournament.
On the other hand, Northwood had won 14 in a row, was 15-2 overall, 6-0 in the Big 8, searching for its first conference championship since 2013.
Not only did Orange upset the Chargers 2-1 on Tuesday night at Panthers field, but Jayden Poteat knocked in courtesy runner Cody Evans for the game-winning run with a two-out walkoff single.
It was Poteat’s 1st RBI of the season.
Poteat was responsible for both of Orange’s runs. He led off the first inning with a single to centerfield, and scored off an infield hit by Ryan Puckett.
Orange’s Derek Lindaman earned his 4th win of the season with his 2nd complete game, yielding just one run and eight hits. He struck out four.
Northwood’s Davis Palermo took an unjustified loss, giving up just five hits and two runs, striking out six.
Following Puckett’s single, Palermo retired 16 of Orange’s next 17 batters over the following five innings. Caige Clayton’s two-out single in the third inning was the Panthers’ only baserunner in that span.
Northwood tied the game in the top of the second. With runners at second and third, Max Hundley ripped a single to right field to score Colton Lineman. Orange right fielder Rodney Brooks made a strong throw to the plate to keep Logan Crabtree from scoring the go-ahead run. Northwood’s Bryce Davis grounded out to shortstop Joey Berini to end the inning on the next at-bat.
Orange will play Chapel Hill tonight at 6. We’ll have that broadcast here on HillsboroughSports.com.
At a time when Orange needed it most, senior pitcher Derek Lindaman provided his best performance of the season. Lindaman threw a complete game on Tuesday night, holding Northwood to one run as Orange defeated the Chargers 2-1. The Panthers and the Chargers are now tied in the loss column for first place in the Big 8.
Jaden Hurdle drove in five runs as Orange defeated Northwood 10-7 on Tuesday night to remain undefeated in the Big 8. Hurdle, a first baseman, went into the game leading the team with a .545 batting average. Her two-run double in the sixth but Orange ahead 10-2, and turned out to be vital as the Chargers rallied for five runs in the seventh to put a scare in the Panther faithful. The two teams meet again in Pittsboro on Friday.
The Cedar Ridge Red Wolves have taken a big step towards its first winning season since 2012.
Senior Brandon Andrews and junior Erik Zehnder doubled while first baseman Chris Cox drove in two runs as the Red Wolves shutout J.F. Webb 9-0 on Tuesday night at Red Wolves Field. Cedar Ridge (10-5, 3-4) have now won four in a row after sweeping its three games in the Hilltop Invitational Tournament against Riverside, Western Harnett and the Wake County Warriors.
Leadoff batter Dante DeFranco went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Zehnder finished 2-for-3, scoring twice. Junior Sailor Ramos went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Freshman Jake DeFranco’s four-game hitting streak came to an end against the Warriors, but he still leads Cedar Ridge with 22 hits and a .500 batting average.
After two scoreless innings, the Red Wolves struck for three in the third, including Andrews RBI double. It was Andrews’ 14th RBI of the season, which leads the team.
The Red Wolves, who travel to Southern Durham tonight, are now in 5th place in the Big 8, a game behind Webb and Chapel Hill, who are locked in a tie for 3rd at 4-3. The top three teams in the Big 8 automatically advance to the state playoffs.
