Little Feet’s “Dixie Chicken” played postgame one more time at Orange Baseball Field on Tuesday night.
It became the Panthers’ de facto victory song last year by accident when public address announcer Ryan O’Keefe’s iPad reached the bottom of the playlist by night’s end. For a team that went 15-1 at home in 2024, the full 9-minute version off the 1978 “Waiting for Columbus” live album became just as much a part of the game as the first pitch and foul balls that floated to the nearby softball field.
In a season full of solid performances, Orange junior pitcher Ryan Sawyer may have delivered his best in his first state playoff win.
Sawyer retired the final 16 Eastern Alamance Eagles, allowing just one hit after the first inning. From there, Orange’s offense scored the final six runs in a 6-1 win over Eastern Alamance in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs in Hillsborough.
It was Orange’s third win over Eastern Alamance in seven days.
Orange (14-11) will travel to Terry Sanford in Fayetteville on Friday night in the round of 32. The Bulldogs pounded Dixon 20-2 on Tuesday.
Sawyer earned his team-high 7th win in his first state playoff appearance. He struck out six with zero walks. Sawyer isn’t a flame baller that lights up a radar gun. Instead, he’s a reminder of the old George Will axiom that while velocity is nice, it’s no substitute for pitching.
“Ryan was very efficient tonight,” said Orange coach Jason Knapp. “He was Cross Clayton-like tonight with his efficiency. He’s a bulldog on the mound. Some people may doubt him if they look at him, I feel like he’s one of the better arms in the league. When we give him some offense, he’s pretty darn tough.”
Orange has now defeated Eastern Alamance 13 straight times dating back to 2012. The Panthers beat the Eagles in all ten of its meetings since they became Central Conference rivals in 2022. It was the second straight year Orange ended Eastern Alamance’s season.
Sawyer endured an early hiccup in the first inning. Eastern catcher Kasen McGinnis lined a single to left field for a base hit. Tyler Westbrooks rounded third. The throw from Orange senior Dominic O’Keefe led to catcher D.J. Woods colliding with Westbrooks three-quarters down the third base line. As the throw rattled the backstop cage, Westbrooks got up and touched home plate.
It remained 1-0 Eastern Alamance going into the third inning when Orange loaded the bases with no outs. Gary Miller, batting ninth, sent a liner to centerfield for a single. Leadoff batter Kayden Bradsher sprinkled a single to right field while Henry Hoffman walked. Sophomore Oliver Van Tiem skied a ball to right centerfield that landed in front of Zach Merchel, nearly creating a logjam on the bases as the runners waited to see how the ball wound up. Miller scored to tie the game.
Bradsher scored the game-wining run off the fielder’s choice of the year. O’Keefe sent a grounder to Eastern shortstop Tate Yount, who bobbled it. Instead of picking it up, Yount kicked the ball to second baseman Christian Vieau, who fielded it while standing on second to retire Van Tiem on a play that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the UEFA Champions League game earlier that day. Regardless, it put Orange ahead 2-1.
Woods, who was called up from the junior varsity team at midseason, grounded a single to left field to score Hoffman.
In the fifth inning, Woods appeared to have struck out to finish the inning, but he reached on a dropped third strike that the Eagles coaching staff disputed. Orange made it hurt when courtesy runner Eli Horton stole second base. Wren Hash lined a single to centerfield to score Horton, which made some already angry Eastern fans downright irate as the Panthers increased its lead to 4-1.
In the sixth, Miller scored his second run off an RBI single from Hoffman. Van Tiem skied a 2-2 pitch to left field that landed just shy of the fence. Hoffman scored from first base.
On the other side, Eastern’s scoresheet was as clean as an Amish criminal record. Tate Yount has a two-out single in the second inning. He was the last Eagle baserunner.
Last year, Terry Sanford handled Orange 4-0 in the 3rd round of the state playoffs. It was Orange’s only shutout of the year.
The Panthers will never be fully healthy again this year, even if they pull an upset on Friday. It’s been a transition year. Orange lost two-thirds of its batting order from last year, then lost their top returning hitter at midseason. They lost three-fifths of its pitching from last year, then lost its top power pitcher in the conference opener.
Knapp also had to replace much of his coaching staff, hiring successful names from Orange’s past such as former East Carolina shortstop Joey Berini, former Liberty pitcher Landon Riley and former Rockingham Community College catcher Davis Horton, the 2021 Big 8 Conference Hitter of the year.
Through it all, Orange is still dancing.
“Having to beat this team three times in a seven day period speaks volumes about the character and the work ethic of the young men in this program,” Knapp said. “To be where we were at after the Southeast Alamance games, the kids made changes within themselves. And that led to changes within the team. That’s been a complete turnaround. I give all the credit to the kids and all the credit to the assistant coaches. Berini is always in those guys ears talking about the team from 2018 (which started 9-11 and wound up nearly reaching the state quarterfinals). He talks about that all the time. Landon is always bringing up stories about when he played. It’s a total team effort for our team. I’m tickled to be a part of it.”
