Orange Baseball

Just three starts into his stint in Triple-A baseball and Bryse Wilson is already setting records.

On Wednesday night, Wilson broke a nearly decade-old Gwinnett Stripers franchise record with 13 strikeouts as Gwinnett defeated the Louisville Bats 4-3 to complete a three-game sweep. Wilson’s broke the old record set by Charlie Moton on April 12, 2009. That game was the fourth in Gwinnett history after the franchise relocated from Richmond, VA.

Wilson struck out seven of the first ten batters he faced. Since being called up from Double-A Mississippi of the Southern League, Wilson has gone 3-0 with a 4.50 ERA for the Stripers.

Wilson has three wins in three starts with the Stripers. In his first AAA outing, he gave up ten hits and seven runs in a 10-7 victory over Norfolk, striking out eight. Last Thursday against Buffalo, Wilson tossed six-and-two-thirds innings, allowing seven hits and four runs in a 9-5 Stripers’ victory.

After spending all of 2017 with the Macon Braves of the South Atlantic League, it’s been a summer of promotions for Wilson. He started the season with the Florida Fire Frogs of the Florida State League. In five starts, Wilson went 2-0 with a 0.34 ERA. He only yielded four runs in the FSL, and only one of those was earned. He struck out 26 with no walks.

On May 7, Wilson was promoted to Mississippi, where his early outings were his toughest of the season.  At one point, Wilson lost five straight starts with a 6.24 ERA through 44 2/3 innings. In each of his five losses, Mississippi scored three runs or less. Things turned around last month.

In the month of July, Wilson led all of minor league baseball with 42 strikeouts, despite being the youngest player in the Southern League at 20 years old. He finished July with a 2-0 record, throwing 32 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, seven walks and a 0.84 ERA.

Wilson is currently the youngest pitcher in AAA baseball by eight months. In his final AA start on July 30th against Birmingham, Wilson had eight strikeouts over five innings. In all five starts in the month of July, Wilson struck out more batters than he pitched innings. Wilson’s longest start in Mississippi came on July 19^th in a 2-0 victory over the Montgomery Biscuts, striking out nine over seven innings. He yielded only three hits and a walk in a no decision.

Wilson spent all of 2017 with the Macon Braves of the South Atlantic League, where he went 10-7 with a 2.50 ERA in 26 starts. He struck out 139 while walking 37.

Wilson, the son of Chad and Tracey Wilson of Hillsborough, is a 2016 graduate of Orange. He was selected in the 4^th round by Atlanta in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft. As a four-year starter on the baseball team, Wilson went 33-4 with a 0.90 ERA in leading the Panthers to four Big 8 Conference Championships. His win total likely would have been higher if it wasn’t for a shoulder injury during his sophomore season, which limited him to four starts on the mound.

Wilson’s father, Chad, is a 1990 graduate of Orange High. Bryse’s brother, Payton, was an All-State linebacker at Orange and will redshirt the upcoming season at N.C. State.

When then-Orange Principal Dr. Stephen Halkiotis hired Dean Dease in 1984 as football and baseball assistant coach, his final words to his new employee was “Don’t screw it up, boy.”

Well, Dr. H, he didn’t.

On Monday afternoon, Dease gathered his returning players for 2019 in centerfield at the field he created, slaved over, mowed, fertilized, cleaned up and won championships on and told them he was retiring after 31 years as a varsity coach.

When most high school coaches depart (its already happened at three Big 8 schools in the past month), they leave behind a team.

Coach Dease is leaving a program. One that he created.

As word spread of Dease’s announcement on Monday night, generations of players who played under Dease expressed surprise and remorse that an era was ending.

For comparison’s sake, in 2018, Orange has a program. In 1984, they barely had a field. During Dease’s years as an assistant under previous head coach Gary Maske, they played some games at the Cedar Ridge Ruritan Club while the regular field was undergoing renovations. Even after those repairs were completed, the light poles were still inside the stadium. At times, that lead to an obstacle course for outfielders chasing fly balls.

While field quality improved over time, Dease saw it all and saw them all on the road in his early years. Before a game against Hillside in the mid-90s, he got off the bus with his team with his mouth agape as he stepped onto the grass consisting largely of weeds and dirt. He ordered his players to line up in the outfield before starting drills.

“Coach, are you making us run extra laps?,” asked one player.

”No,” answered Dease. “We’re going to pick up rocks.”

After replacing Maske in 1988 as varsity coach, Dease won 504 games and captured 12 conference championships. His last win came against Jacksonville on May 9th in the opening round of the 3A state playoffs. It was the seventh consecutive year that the Panthers have won a playoff game. Only Southeast Guilford has a longer streak in 3A baseball.

If only that could statisfy everyone.

Often in college sports, whether its Urban Meyer or Billy Donovan, coaches begin to look elsewhere when winning becomes so common, it starts to feel like a relief instead of a thrill. Sometimes, Dease didn’t even get that luxury.

When Orange defeated Chapel Hill on April 20th, it led to the Panthers’ 16th straight consecutive playoff birth. He was barely done with his team’s postgame huddle when he found a parent waiting for him along the first base line, waiting to read the coach the riot act for not playing his son.

Dease estimates that was the fifth time it had happened this year. It’s something he’s dealt with, to various degrees, since he took the job. At one point, there were over 900 players in the Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association. At one point in time, the vast majority of them aimed to play at Orange. Some of them stood out and raised their parents hopes of grandeur that they do something beyond Hillsborough. Often, Dease had to break it to grown-ups their little Jimmy or Johnny wasn’t the 2nd coming of Mike Trout, Freddie Freeman or Bryce Harper. Some parents understood.

Others waited for Coach Dease after the game and deliver barbs that stung. Even after all the wins and all the years, some parents forgot that the man behind the uniform and the cap was human.

In April, I spoke with Coach Dease for an hour on an Sunday afternoon for my first article as Sports Editor for the News of Orange. When I broached the subject of retirement, he didn’t seem to give it very much thought. He said it barely entered his mind and called coaching his “obsession.” If he was ready to leave, he didn’t show it that day.

Obviously, something happened between then and now. On Monday night, he revealed he met with Orange Principal Eric Yarbrough and Athletic Director Mike McCauley about possibly retiring the week after Orange’s season ended against Chapel Hill on May 12th. He had retired as a teacher in 2017. This spring, he spent his mornings working at Occoneechee County Club under the direction of Scott Ray, one of his former players.

Yarbrough asked Dease to take a weekend to think about it. So he drove to the Greenville Regional of the NCAA Baseball Tournament, where UNC Wilmington was playing. Dease’s daughter, M’Lynn, is an administrative assistant for the Seahawks. She does everything from filing statistical sheets to holding the radar gun.

While Dease has been to many college baseball games, it was the first time he had ever interrupted his routine long enough to sit down and enjoy a regional college tournament. He found that he loved it.

Then he thought about his family. His youngest daughter, Abby, just finished her freshman year at Orange. He thought back to previous summers, which he barely had time to vacation. A baseball coach’s life is dictated by routine, and part of Dease’s routine was getting ready for summer baseball every June. He could take a vacation, but for only about a week. Then summer ball would start and it wouldn’t end until it was almost time to start another academic year.

Increasingly over the last month, Dease began to think about what a life away from that routine he had lived for 31 years would be like.

Now, he’s ready to try it. He joked that his wife of 26 years, Jan, thought he was crazy for staying with coaching for as long as he has.

1,000 words isn’t enough to summarize Dease’s career and what he’s meant for Orange Baseball and the Hillsborough community at large. It doesn’t touch on the 57 players who have gone on to play college or professionally. Or the endless stories about the thrilling moments in games, like one contest in the 2nd round of the 1992 4A state playoffs against Anson County, where 2nd baseman Craig Swainey tied the game with a 2-run homer in the 7th inning, a game that Orange would go on to win. It’s still a moment that rolls right off of Dease’s tongue.

So over the next few days, we’ll bring you memories of players and coaches from Dease’s past and how much he meant to the community and their lives.

In the interest of full disclosure, I graduated from Orange in 1991 (There. The secret is out. I’m old. But I’m old going to as many concerts as possible). High school was a struggle for me. I spent a fair amount of it not really caring about my grades because I didn’t feel I had much to offer to the world.

For reasons I still can’t remember, I joined Cathy Bennington’s Newspaper class in 1989, a year of tremendous inner turbulence. That February, Mrs. Bennington (I still call my teachers that) asked me to start doing public address announcing for Orange’s JV baseball team.

Me? I sounded more southern than a UNC football fan that didn’t attend UNC. I barely spoke in class. Not just Newspaper class, ANY class. Somehow, I took the job. No pay, of course.

Orange won the first game 11-1 over Graham, which included Orange pitcher Jonathan Hoffman throwing to catcher Scott Hackler throwing to first baseman Jamey Hall for a 1-2-3 double play. Midway through the game, Coach Dease walked into the press box. We had never spoken before and he wondered why the JV team had a public address announcer while the varsity team didn’t. He asked me to do varsity, too.

Extremely slowly and somewhat surely, that was how I made my living with words, whether they came out through a microphone or over a keyboard like I’m typing on now.

So it isn’t enough for me to simply thank Coach Dease for his cooperation with this article. I have to thank him for his cooperation with my life.

Orange and Cedar Ridge’s baseball seasons ended on Saturday, but that’s about the only thing the two teams had in common this weekend.

In Fayetteville, Cedar Ridge’s game against Terry Sanford went down to the wire. In Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill Tigers pounced on Orange early and proved why they were the best team in the Big 8 this season.

Cedar Ridge went to the bottom of the sixth inning tied with Terry Sanford 4-4 after Adam Chnupa, in his final at-bat for the Red Wolves, smoke a 85-mile-per-hour fastball over the centerfield wall. But those would be the last runs of the Cedar Ridge season.

East Carolina recruit Christian Jayne, who earned the victory on the mound for the Bulldogs, stroked a go-ahead double in the bottom of the inning. Andrew Jayne followed with a two-run homer to centerfield to seal Sanford’s 7-4 victory.

The Red Wolves end the season 18-6, the most victories they’ve had in a season since 2006.

Senior Chris Cox laced a two-run homer in the first to immediately give Cedar Ridge the lead. Sanford’s Christian Jayne responded with a solo blast to right field in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead in half.

The Red Wolves squandered plenty of chances to extend its lead. They left the bases loaded in the second. In the third, Cox and Sailor Ramos were left stranded in scoring position.

The Bulldogs’ Justin Ebert pounded a double to centerfield to start the fourth. After a walk and a hit-by-pitch, pitcher Logan Brown laced a two-run double to right to gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.

In the fifth, Cedar Ridge tied the game. Shortstop Dante DeFranco hit a leadoff double down the left field line. Senior Erik Zehnder lined a two-out single to left field to score DeFranco.

It was the final game for Ramos, Cox, Zehnder, Chnupa, third baseman Landon Badger and Nicholas Starr.

Ramos ends the year with a team-best .439 batting average. He led the team with 29 hits and 23 RBIs. Cox and Chnupa tied for the team lead with three home runs.

In Chapel Hill, a rare battle of Orange County rivals in the state playoffs could have set the table for drama and intensity. Instead, Chapel Hill scored eight runs in the first inning and an intense playoff atmosphere turned into a leisurely stroll into the Round of 16 as the Tigers won 15-3.

After Chapel Hill’s Tyler Tachman flew out to Orange centerfielder Jaydin Poteat in the first inning, nine consecutive Tigers reached base and eight of them scored.

Tyler Hansen scored the first run after Ryan Lonegan drew a bases-loaded walk. Colin Liebe, who singled off of Orange starter Will White, tallied a run after a wild pitch. Anthony Castellano reached on a catcher’s interference call and scored after Drew Govert lined a ball off the third baseman’s glove.

The only positives on the night from Orange came when junior first baseman Trey Clayton lined a opposite field double to right, scoring Mark Willms. Caige Clayton, in his final game, led off the fourth with a single to left. After catcher Cooper Porter singled to right, Clayton scored off an RBI groudout by senior Dalton Brown.

In the fifth, Poteat singled in his final at-bat as a Panther, ending his career with a nine-game hitting streak. Joey Berini reached on a fielder’s choice and scored off a triple by Jason Slaughter.

Slaughter, who will play in college at Belmont Abbey, led Orange with 27 hits and 24 RBIs this season. Orange finishes the year 13-11.

It was the final game for Poteat, Slaughter, Clayton, Willms, pitcher Kaymin Matsko (who earned the win on Saturday in the state playoffs), Clayton, White and Brian Werden.

Only a handful of baseball programs across the state can say they’ve won a game in the state playoffs for seven consecutive years. But Orange is one of them after Wednesday’s 6-2 victory over Jacksonville at Cardinals Stadium. Jaydin Poteat went 2-for-4 and scored in each of the first two innings. Jason Slaughter had three RBIs and also finished 2-for-4. Kaymin Matsko earned the win by throwing four innings, giving up only two runs. Dalton Brown singled, scored and threw two key innings of relief as the Panthers advanced to face Chapel Hill on Saturday night at 7, a game you can here on Hillsboroughsports.com

For the third time in four weeks, Caige Clayton came in from third base and pitched the final outs of a big Orange win. Clayton struck out the final two Jacksonville batters, with two men on base, to preserve Orange’s 6-2 win over the Cardinals. Clayton drove in the first run of the game with a double off the left field wall, scoring Jaydin Poteat. To prepare for a three-hour bus ride to Jacksonville, Clayton had a steady breakfast which included diligent attention to making his cereal, as he discusses in this interview. 

Bryse Wilson: Five starts with the Florida Fire Frogs was enough for the brass in the Atlanta Braves organization to see Bryse Wilson should be promoted. On Saturday, Wilson was called up to the Mississippi Braves of the AA Southern League. The transaction came after Wilson threw six-and-two-thirds shutout innings for the Fire Frogs against the Bradenton Marauders on Wednesday. Wilson departs Kissimmee, Florida with a 2-0 record and a 0.34 ERA. In four of Wilson’s five starts, he didn’t give up an earned run. He struck out 26 and walked seven. He’s expected to make his Southern League debut next week.

Mia Davidson: In Sunday’s 6-1 loss to #7 Tennessee, former Orange High catcher Mia Davidson set the Mississippi State softball record for most home runs in a season by a freshman. She launched her 18th home run in the 3rd inning. On Saturday in Mississippi State’s 10-3 win over the Volunteers, Davidson tied the record with her 17th homer. Mississippi State, ranked #24 in the country, concluded the regular season 35-20 overall, 7-17 in the SEC. Davidson concluded the regular season leading the team in batting average (.385), hits (66), doubles (13), home runs (18), RBI (46), total bases (133), slugging percentage (.733), and on-base percentage.

Mackenzie Cates: The Efland native was named the Lenoir-Rhyne Female Athlete of the Year on Wednesday during the first-ever Bears Choice Awards. Cates was named to the 2019 All-South Atlantic Conference First Team last week. She leads the Lenoir-Rhyne softball team in home runs (12) and RBI (42). Lenoir-Rhyne was upset by Carson-Newman in the first round of the SAC Softball Quarterfinals 6-0 on April 27. Nonetheless, the Bears are expected to receive a high-seed when the NCAA Division II Softball Tournament brackets are unveiled this week.

Brandon Andrews: The former Cedar Ridge pitcher earned his first college win as Nicholls defeated Stephen F. Austin 22-10 on Saturday in Nacogdoches, Texas. Andrews, a freshman with the Colonels, threw three shutout innings, giving up one hit, striking out one. He retired ten of the eleven batters he faced. Andrews also pitched on May 2 in Nicholls 17-8 win over Prairie View in Prairie View, TX. Against the Panthers, Andrews threw two shutout innings, striking out two. Nicholls is 21-27, 10-13 in the Southland Conference going into Sunday’s series-finale against Stephen F. Austin.

Jordan Toney: The former Orange pitcher started for UNC Pembroke against Georgia Southwestern on April 28. He gave up 12 hits and seven runs in four-and-two-thirds innings as the Braves defeated the Hurricanes 13-7. Toney also started against Flagler on April 21st, also getting a no-decision. Toney threw six-and-a-third innings, giving up six hits, three runs, striking out three. This season, Toney is 3-0 with a 6.04 ERA in eight starts. He’s made 13 appearances on the mound.

Brad Debo: Debo made pinch-hitting appearances on Friday and Saturday against William & Mary. Debo got a base hit in the Wolfpack’s 4-0 win over the Tribe on Friday. In a 5-4 loss to Campbell on Wednesday, Debo had a pinch-hit RBI single. Debo is hitting .276 and has started 22 of the Wolfpack’s 46 games. N.C. State is 33-12.

Bowen Collins: The former Orange midfielder played in Lenoir-Rhyne’s win over Queens in the South Atlantic Conference men’s lacrosse tournament. The Bears lost the championship game to Wingate 12-9 on April 29.

Jaydin Poteat is far too young to know who Vanessa Williams is, but he certainly is taking the theme from her signature song, released in 1991.

He’s saving the best for last.

Poteat, an Orange senior who has started in centerfield the past three years, led off the final regular season game of his 73-game career against Northern by lining a 1-0 fastball over the left field wall.

It was the first home run of Poteat’s high school career, extending his hitting streak to a team-best seven games.

Poteat finished 4-for-5, Dalton Brown threw five innings for his third win and Orange scored nine unanswered runs to beat the Knights 10-2 in the regular season finale at Knights Field.

Orange (12-10, 10-4 in the big 8) sewed up third place in the Big 8, ensuring a spot in the 3A state playoffs. The Panthers will be on the road to open the playoffs on Tuesday. The 64-team field will be released on Sunday.

Poteat was mobbed by his teammates at the plate, which appeared to be an emotional release for a team that needed it. Earlier on Thursday, the news broke that starting pitcher Will White suffered a broken bone in his right foot, likely sidelining him for the rest of the season. White suffered the injury in the first inning of Tuesday’s game against Northern when a liner went off his right leg. Though he refused to come out of the game at first, it was clear White was hampered. Northern tagged White for four runs in the second inning before he was replaced by Kaymin Matsko.

On Thursday with the game tied 1-1 in the top of the fifth,  Orange scored nine unanswered runs to take its fifth straight win. Moments after Northern’s Cole Singsank tied the game off a wild pitch, Nas Powell led off the fifth by reaching on an error. Poteat and Joey Berini walked to load the bases. Jason Slaughter drew a bases-loaded walk against new Knights pitcher Jordan Snow. Catcher Cooper Porter was called out on a controversial infield fly, which appeared to be more of a looper to third base instead of a pop up, but Poteat tagged up and scored anyway even though the ball barely reached the outfield grass.

Berini and Slaughter scored off an error off a grounder to second hit by Mark Willms to push the Orange lead to 5-1.

Orange put across three more in the sixth, all with two out. Poteat singled but was thrown out on a fielder’s choice grounder hit by Berini. Slaughter reached on an error, sending Berini to third. With Caige Clayton at the plate, Berini scored on a wild pitch, and Slaughter moved to third on an error by the catcher. Orange would make it 8-1 after Clayton doubled to right to bring in Slaughter.

Clayton and Slaughter tied for the team lead with 20 RBI to conclude the regular season. Poteat scored in the 7th inning off a Berini double for his 24th run of the season, tops on the team. First baseman Trey Clayton singled in the 7th, and scored off of Poteat’s single to right.

Brown threw five innings for his third win  of the season, allowing three hits and one earned run.

Orange pitcher Dalton Brown earned his third win of the sesaon on Thursday in a 10-2 victory at Northern Durham in the regular season finale. In his ninth start of the season, Brown surrendered only one earned run on three hits to improve to 3-3. The win bolstered Orange’s record to 12-10 and ensured a winning season for the sixth straight year. Orange officially finished 3rd in the Big 8 playoffs, sewing up a spot in the state playoffs for the 16th year in a row. The Panthers start play in the 3A state playoffs on Tuesday.