Orange Baseball

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior right fielder Dominic O’Keefe. On a young team, the Orange baseball team has had many different roles to fill this year because of injuries and losing eight starters from last year. O’Keefe has fulled those roles, playing four different positions this year, including pitcher. During the Hilltop Invitational two weeks ago, O’Keefe went 2-for-2 with three RBIs in the Panthers’ win over Chatham Central. He drove in the game-winning run with a double to right centerfield. Later, he knocked in D.J. Woods with a single to left field. Earlier in the Hilltop, O’Keefe had an RBI double against Heritage that scored Wren Hash. O’Keefe helped tie the game against the Huskies when he scored the first of three runs in the seventh inning. On Thursday, O’Keefe had an RBI single that plated Kayden Bradsher as Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 5-0 at Red Wolves Stadium. In February, O’Keefe signed with Lenoir Community College to continue his baseball career. O’Keefe was so dedicated to playing football for Orange, he constantly woke up early on summer and Christmas holiday mornings for extra workouts. O’Keefe will be among the seniors honored during Senior Night activities when Orange hosts Walter Williams on Friday night in Hillsborough.

Orange Panther of the Week: Dominic O’Keefe

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior right fielder Dominic O’Keefe. On a young team, the Orange baseball team has had many different roles to fill this year because of injuries and losing eight starters from last year. O’Keefe has fulled those roles, playing four different positions this year, including pitcher.

Orange pitcher Oliver Van Tiem threw a one-hit shutout as the Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 5-0 at Red Wolves Stadium on Thursday night to split the two-game series. Panther shortstop Kayden Bradsher got Orange’s first hit of the game with a stand-up triple to left field in the third inning. Van Tiem drove him in with a double that bounced down the third base line. Bradsher added another run when he walked in the seventh inning and scored off a single from senior Dominic O’Keefe. Van Tiem earned his first win since March 7. He suffered an ankle injury against Western Alamance on March 11 and missed seven games. Thursday’s game was his third start since the injury. He showed the form that has him ranked as among the top pitchers in the Class of 2027. Bradsher reached base three times against Cedar Ridge. He leads Orange with 24 runs scored. Orange ended a five-game Central Conference losing streak. A young Orange team that has battled injuries throughout the season will look to finish the season strong with four conference games remaining. They will journey to Burlington to face Walter Williams on Tuesday. The following night, Orange will play its first-ever game against Southeast Alamance in Haw River. On Friday, it will be senior night as Orange hosts Williams in Hillsborouhgh.

Orange baseball’s Kayden Bradsher and Oliver Van Tiem discuss win over Cedar Ridge

Orange pitcher Oliver Van Tiem threw a one-hit shutout as the Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 5-0 at Red Wolves Stadium on Thursday night to split the two-game series. Panther shortstop Kayden Bradsher got Orange’s first hit of the game with a stand-up triple to left field in the third inning.

By his own admission, Oliver Van Tiem isn’t 100% yet.

If he was 75% on Thursday night, it was still plenty to overpower Cedar Ridge.

Van Tiem, who suffered an ankle injury against Western Alamance on March 18 and missed six games, threw a complete game, one-hit shutout and added the game-winning hit during a two-run third inning as Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 5-0 at Red Wolves Stadium on Thursday night. It was Van Tiem’s first pitching win since  March 14, when he struck out 12 batters in five innings against Jordan.

Orange (10-9 overall, 3-5 in the Central Conference) ended a five-game conference losing streak by splitting the series against Cedar Ridge. It came two nights after the Red Wolves stunned Orange 6-1, its first win at Panther Field since 2012.

Unlike the previous two meetings between the crosstown squads, there were no memorable comebacks in the seventh inning. Yet tensions within the rivalry remain as healthy as ever as coaches and players from opposing sides exchanged words in the latter innings. The emotions lingered well into the postgame.

“We’re not fully healthy, but our boys played with a lot of fight,” said Orange coach Jason Knapp. “Tuesday left a bad taste in our mouth. We’ve dominated that program for the last 15 years. We didn’t finish Tuesday. Our kids came out yesterday (Wednesday) to practice laser focused. Laser focused. And we came out here as a totally different team tonight that we’ve had the last few weeks. I’m absolutely proud of them.”

When 2024 ended, Orange lost six position starters and two-thirds of its pitching to graduation. Van Tiem, a sophomore, was the player they could least afford to lose. He starts at shortstop when he isn’t pitching and hits third in the starting lineup.

He went down against Western Alamance, the Central Conference opener, when he stepped on third base after a dropped ball in centerfield. His loss took away Orange’s most powerful pitching arm, among its most potent batters and forced several players to adjust to new defensive positions on the fly in his absence.

Orange put up a two-out rally in the top of the third to bring across the game-winning runs. Kayden Bradsher sent a first-pitch fastball to the left field power ally, 360 feet from home plate, and stood up for a triple, the Panthers first hit of the game against Cedar Ridge starter Aidan Ryan. Van Tiem turned on a 1-0 curveball, which hugged the third base line and faded into the left field corner. Bradsher scored the first run of the game off Van Tiem’s double.

After Eli Horton replaced Van Tiem as a courtesy runner, designated hitter Henry Hoffman skied a 2-2 pitch to the wall in centerfield. Horton touched home as Hoffman earned his first triple of the year to increase Orange’s lead to 2-0. Hoffman has a team-high 18 RBIs.

Ryan laced a triple to left field in the first inning with one out. The next Cedar Ridge batter popped out to Orange’s Cam Brown, who made the catch in the third base’s coaches box. Van Tiem got his first strikeout of the night to end the inning.

Cedar Ridge would have only four more baserunners the rest of the game, all reaching off walks. The last true Cedar Ridge threat came when Quinn Finnegan and Ryan each walked. They both got into scoring position, but the inning ended after another infield pop-up that Van Tiem handled in foul territory.

D.J. Woods stroked a double down the left field line to start the fifth inning. Hunter Albert replaced Woods as a courtesy runner and went to third after Wren Hash grounded out to Cedar Ridge first baseman Dominic Sena. Brown lofted a two-out single to left field to increase Orange’s lead to 3-0.

Orange added two more runs in the seventh. Bradsher drew a leadoff walk. Hoffman dropped a soft liner to right field where McGuffey and Carter Warren collided. With the infield drawn in, senior Dominic O’Keefe sent a grounder up the gut to drive in Bradsher. Woods drove in Hoffman with a single to left field.

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The race is on in the Central Conference baseball standings.

For second place, that is.

After tying Orange for first place last year, Southern Alamance has basically secured the outright Central Conference regular season championship roughly 55% through the regular season.

On Tuesday night, it was Mark King who practically beat Orange single handily.

King laced a grand slam to break open a scoreless game in the sixth inning. On the mound, King threw a two-hit shutout to propel the Patriots (13-2, 7-0 in the Central Conference) defeated Orange 4-0 in Hillsborough.

Orange, which has either won outright or claimed a share of four consecutive conference championships, fell to 2-3 in the Central Conference. They’re 9-7 overall.

Orange, Person and Eastern Alamance are all tied in the loss column for second place with three conference losses each. Southern Alamance has already swept the season series from Person and Eastern Alamance and now controls the tiebreaker against Orange, as well.

King’s otherworldly performance overshadowed a great effort from junior Ryan Sawyer, who kept the Patriots off balance most of the night. Sawyer struck out nine in five-and-two-thirds innings.

In a game Orange needed badly in order to stay alive in the conference championship chase, it appeared that Sawyer was set to send the game into the bottom of the sixth inning scoreless. He struck out Eli Gilley and Ethan Mann. On a 1-1 pitch, Southern’s Camden Whittemore, who had struck out twice, got brushed across the elbow on a fastball. In was a small spark that ignited an inferno.

As Sawyer neared the 105 pitches allowed by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, he walked Lance Siegner. Orange coach Jason Knapp opted to replace Ryan Sawyer with centerfielder Garrett Sawyer. Southern shortstop Johnny Rojas got hit by a pitch on the lead shoulder to load the bases.

King ran the count up to 3-0 before he took strike one. Sawyer offered a fastball that King aimed at the infamous left field porch at Panther Field, a nightmare for right handed pitchers that Orange has lived by in the past.

On Tuesday, they died by it.

Left fielder Eli Horton chased after it in vain as it sailed over the fence. In the celebration behind home plate, Southern players put an oversized blue hat on King as he ran to the dugout

King got stronger as the game went on. In the opening four innings, he struck out two Orange batters and allowed three hits. In the final three innings, he struck out six, didn’t give up a hit and conceded only two baserunners.

In each of the first two innings, Orange placed its leadoff batter at second base with no outs. Kayden Bradsher, in the first, reached on a dropped ball but advanced to further.

In the second, senior Dominic O”Keefe reached on an infield single, then took second off an errant pickoff throw. O’Keefe reached third after an error by Whittemore. Cam Brown tried to squeeze O’Keefe in with a bunt, but the ball rolled right to King, who underhanded it to Sieger to tag out O’Keefe at the plate.

O’Keefe was the only Panther batter to reach third base all night.

Western Alamance 6, Cedar Ridge 5: Cooper Marks hit two home runs, including the game-winning blast to lead off the top of the seventh inning, as the Warriors edged the Red Wolves in a back-and-forth game on Tuesday night in Hillsborough.

It was Marks’ first two home runs of the year. It doubled the total amount of home runs hit by the Warriors this season. The only other home run hit by a Western Alamance player this year was Gavin Davis, who delivered a dinger in a 13-3 win over Western Guilford on February 26. If that wasn’t enough, Marks also earned the win, closing out the game after relieving Bryce Runner in the sixth inning. Marks struck out three.

After Marks led off the game with a solo homer, Cedar Ridge scored three runs in the second. Jesus Velazquez drove in Aidan Ryan with an RBI single up the middle. Carter Warren laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring in Dominic Sena to put the Red Wolves ahead 2-1. Quinn Finnegan drove in Velazquez after reaching on an error by Jackson Rippy.

Cedar Ridge will travel to Western Alamance on Thursday.

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Traditionally, the Hilltop Invitational has served as a midterm exam for Orange baseball.

The event rings in April and falls just after the Panthers have started its conference slate. For one majestic Wednesday night, it served as a reminder of how wonderful baseball can be.

Facing Heritage, the Panthers awakened from a dormant offensive showing to score three runs in the seventh inning to end the game into extra innings.

Just when Orange needed a miracle to extend the game beyond the 9th inning, Cam Brown provided one.

The wind had blows to right field all night. Brown, who stepped up to the plate 0-for-4, sent a fly ball to right field with two out and the Huskies leading 6-4. Heritage’s Ellie Droke ran toward the line and flashed his hands up in the air unable to find the ball. Then Droke looked over his left shoulder in time to find the ball disappear over the fence.

It was just the second home run hit over the right field fence at Orange in the last two years. The other was by Ryan Honeycutt, a walkoff blast against Cedar Ridge in the opening round of the state playoffs last year. Brown, after the first home run of his varsity career, was mobbed by his teammates with a water shower.

Unfortunately, the Panthers couldn’t complete the comeback. Heritage, which jumped out to a 1-0 lead and led almost the entire game, scored three runs in the tenth inning off four walks and two hit batters. Andrew Briganati was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Tyler Henderson to score the game-winning run. The Huskies would add two more runs and win 9-6 in ten innings.

Heritage starting pitcher Blake Tillery took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Orange’s Wren Hash sent a single on a grounder to left field. Dominic O’Keefe stroked a double to the left field fence to score Hash and cut the Heritage lead to 2-1.

With Orange trailing 4-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Panthers remarkably tied the game. Garrett Sawyer drew a walk to load the bases. Henry Hoffman, who leads the team in RBIs, lined a single to left field. Kayden Bradsher and O’Keefe scored. Sawyer reached third base as the relay throw from Heritage centerfielder Andrew Kilgore bounced through the infield and past the third base line. Sawyer raced for home plate and beat the throw from reliever Holden Kafes to the plate to even the game.

On Friday, Orange made quick work of Chatham Central 11-1 in five innings, the Panthers second run-rule win of the season.

Gary Miller scored the go-ahead run in the second after he reached on an error. O’Keefe sent a drooping liner to right field that got under the glove of right fielder Carter King to score Miller.

Orange pulled away with six runs in the third. After O’Keefe drew a bases-loaded walk, Eli Horton drilled a bases-loaded double that loaded between two outfielders for a bases-clearing double. Hash, Miller and O’Keefe all scored. Hoffman added an two-run single later in an inning where the Panthers sent eleven batters to the plate.

Orange would tack on four more runs in the fourth inning. D.J. Woods scored off a single by O’Keefe. Miller touched the plate after an RBI groundout by Horton. Kayden Bradsher lined a single to centerfield that scored O’Keefe.

Sawyer earned the win, throwing three-and-two-thirds innings. The game marked the return of Oliver Van Tiem after he was injured against Western Alamance on March 18. Van Tiem threw one-and-two-thirds innings before he was replaced. Sawyer allowed only one hit and struck out five.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior pitcher Ryan Sawyer. After 2024, the Panthers lost five of its top seven pitchers, including starter Cross Clayton and Josiah Gibbs. This year, Sawyer has stepped up to become the regular Tuesday starter. Moving into the second month of the season, Sawyer has a 4-0 mark with a 2.31 ERA. He leads the team with 48 strikeouts. On March 18, Sawyer struck out ten batters in a 8-1 win over Western Alamance, the Panthers Central Conference opener. On March 11, Sawyer delivered another ten strikeout performance and took the victory as Orange defeated East Chapel Hill 7-1. Sawyer picked up the win on March 3 as the Panthers defeated Northern Durham 6-0 at Knights Field. Sawyer struck out eight over three shutout innings. In Orange’s first win of the year against Chapel Hill on February 26, Sawyer earned the victory as he threw four innings and struck out four and allowed only four hits. Ryan attributes a new diet, partially created by new pitching coach Landon Riley, for his new mindset which includes a emphasis on BBQ chicken. Amidst heavy turnover from a four-time defending conference championship team, Sawyer has provided reliability in 2025 as the Panthers aim for the top of the Central Conference once again. Starting on Tuesday, the Panthers will start a two-game series against Southern Alamance, which sits atop the Central Conference with a 6-0 record.

Orange Panther of the Week: Ryan Sawyer

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior pitcher Ryan Sawyer. After 2024, the Panthers lost five of its top seven pitchers, including starter Cross Clayton and Josiah Gibbs. This year, Sawyer has stepped up to become the regular Tuesday starter.