It’s been six years since Cedar Ridge hosted a baseball game in the state playoffs.

After winning its eighth straight game, that drought may end soon.

Adam Chnupa had four hits, including a double and a triple, as the Red Wolves (14-5, 6-4) completed a season sweep by routing Carrboro 14-6 at Jaguars Field Friday afternoon.

Chnupa went 4-for-5 with six RBIs and four runs scored, pushing his average up to .422. Chnupa, a junior, leads the team with 28 runs.

Cedar Ridge belted 13 hits to increase its team average to .356. Sophomore Dante DeFranco and junior Chris Cox each had three hits. Cox also drove in four runs and now lead the club with 19 RBIs.

DeFranco, a sophomore, has 27 hits this season.

Senior Brandon Andrews reached base in all four of his plate appearances, scoring each time and stealing three bases.

Sophomore Phillip Berger earned his sixth win by going four-and-two-thirds innings, striking out four, yielding six hits and five runs.

CRHS jumped out to a 3-0 lead the top of the 3rd and never trailed against the Jaguars (7-13). The Red Wolves pushed across three more in the 4th and five in the sixth.

Now, Cedar Ridge prepares for rivalry week against Orange, the crosstown rival they haven’t defeated since 2012. But first, they host Oxford Preparatory on Monday night. The Red Wolves travel to Orange on Tuesday, then host the Panthers for senior night on Friday. We’ll have coverage of the Tuesday and Friday night games here on HillsboroughSports.com.

Discretely, Cedar Ridge baseball accomplished more than just a requisite 12-2 blowout of Southern Durham on Wednesday night.

They guaranteed themselves its first winning season since 2012, when they finished 13-11 under then-coach Jackson Lowe.

More importantly, the Red Wolves (13-5) are 6-4 in the Big 8, percentage points ahead of Orange for third place. Cedar Ridge will play Orange twice next week. The top three teams in the Big 8 qualify for the state playoffs, which has a 64-team field. Cedar Ridge’s sweep of J.F. Webb last week greatly helped its chances of making the playoffs as a wildcard.

As for Wednesday night, CRHS scored six runs in the first inning and never looked back, securing its second 5-inning victory over the Spartans in seven days.

First baseman Chris Cox went 1-for-1 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI.

Junior left fielder Sailor Ramos drove in three runs on two singles. Sophomore Dante DeFranco increased his hitting streak to 12 games by going 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. DeFranco leads the team with a .381 batting average.

Senior Brandon Andrews earned the win despite pitching only two innings. He struck out five of the seven batters he faced. Andrews is now 5-1 on the season.

Before the critical series against Orange, Cedar Ridge plays two non-conference games. They travel to Carrboro on Friday. On Monday, they host Oxford Prep in a game rescheduled from Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, it was unclear whether the Big 8 Boys Golf Championships would even take place at Occoneechee Golf Club.

Over five inches of rain had fallen in Hillsborough since Sunday night. The coaches of the five participating schools weren’t even sure if the event would go on until Orange’s Pat Moser received confirmation from Occnoeechee Course Director Scott Ray.

Cedar Ridge, under head coach Chris Casey, finished third overall for the season. Matthew Durham and Devin Kehoe qualified for Sunday’s 3A Mideast Regionals. Durham finished 4th, shooting a 77. Kehoe carded an 84.

Northwood finished conference champion. The Chargers’ Ben Ramos captured the individual championship after shooting a 72, one stroke ahead of Cooper Patterson. Ramos also earned Big 8 Player of the Year honors.

Orange’s Toby Ivey shot 89 for the Panthers, also qualifying for Sunday’s regionals.

Durham, Kehoe, Ramos and Patterson made the all-conference team. Joining them were J.F. Webb’s Noah Williams, Scott Loftis and Caleb Marin, Chapel Hill’s Ryan Rosamond (who finished 3rd on Wednesday) and Jackson Paul; and Northwood’s Gordon Braun and Alex Snively.

Very quietly, Wednesday marked the final event in the career of Orange Golf Coach Pat Moser, who will retire next month. Moser coached Orange to its first undefeated season in football last fall, winning the Big 8 Conference Championship outright for the 2nd straight year.

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.

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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.