After dropping a game against Southern Lee two weeks ago, Orange Baseball Coach Dean Dease said he hoped his club would be a good team by April.

While the Panthers aren’t there yet, they took a forward step on Tuesday night.

Joey Berini hit a two-run single in the fifth inning, while Dalton Brown went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI as Orange (2-4, 1-0 in the Big 8) defeated Northern Vance 9-8 at Panther Field. Brown, who started in left field, came on in relief of starter Derek Lindaman for his first save.

Orange won its conference opener and ended a four-game losing streak.

The Panthers ended a 15-inning scoreless streak by scoring four runs in the first frame. After leadoff batter Jaydin Poteat walked, right fielder Rodney Brooks slammed a two-run homer to left center, his first varsity dinger. Following a single by second baseman Jason Slaughter, first baseman Eric Nichols laced a RBI triple to right field. Brown followed with a two-out single to right, scoring Nichols.

After the Vikings scored two runs in the 2nd, the Panthers extended its lead to 6-2 in the 3rd inning when Brown singled off a Baltimore chop over the head of Vikings third baseman Chris Stainback, scoring Slaughter and Noah Rogers, who doubled earlier in the inning.

Northern Vance narrowed the gap to 6-5 after scoring three runs in the 5th after three Orange errors.

The Panthers came right back with three more runs in the bottom of the inning. After Caige Clayton drew a one-out walk, Nichols reached on an infield single. Both runners advanced off a throwing error. Catcher Dylan Hall was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Berini hit a bouncer over second base that found its way into centerfield to score Clayton and Brown. With Cooper Porter running for Hall, Poteat reached on an infield single, leading to a throwing error that scored Porter to put Orange ahead 9-5.

Northern Vance never quit, scoring two more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh. After shortstop Payne Harris scored off a Qwadre Hanks RBI groudout, the Vikings cuts Orange’s lead to 9-8 with two out in the seventh. Brown struck out Ryan Stainback to end the game.

Orange travels to Northern Vance on Friday at 4:30. You can hear that game here on HillsboroughSports.com.

After starting in left field, Orange junior Dalton Brown earned his first save in Orange’s 9-8 win over Northern Vance on Tuesday night. Brown also went 2-for-4 with a double and 3 RBI in helping Orange end a four-game losing streak.

Dalton Brown Discusses 1st Save in Win over Northern Vance

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After losing seven of its last eight games to Chapel Hill, the Cedar Ridge baseball team was due for a win over the Tigers. It finally came in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night.

After blowing a 3-0 lead, the Red Wolves (6-1, 2-1 in the Big 8) scored in the bottom of the sixth for the game-winning run, beating Chapel Hill 4-3. It’s only the second time that Cedar Ridge has beaten CHHS as a conference rival, dating back to 2015.

Senior Brandon Andrews went 2-for-3 with three stolen bases and a run. Andrews was also the starting pitcher, earning a no-decision, yielding five hits and three runs over five and tw0-thirds innnings.

Freshman Jake DeFranco continued his steady offensive production, going 2-for-3. He also started two double plays.

Junior Erik Zehnder went 1-for-3 with an RBI, the only one of the game for CRHS.

Senior Evan Hall earned the win, while junior Chris Cox got the save.

The Red Wolves surged out to a 3-0 lead after scoring two runs in the first inning, adding another in the third. The Tigers (4-3, 0-3) tied the contest with a run in the fifth, followed by two more in the sixth off a double by Tyler Hansen.

The two teams will meet again on Friday night at Chapel Hill at 7:00. You can hear that game here on HillsboroughSports.com.

Photo by Morgan Flynn 

Usually it doesn’t take an official scorer to determine if someone hits a home run. The ball either goes over the fence or it doesn’t.

However, Mia Davidson provided the only drama in Orange’s 21-0 win over Northern Vance in the first inning as to whether her first at-bat of the game would be scored an inside-the-park home run.

If it had been, Davidson would have set the new NCHSAA state record for career home runs. However, Davidson was credited with a double to right field and scored off a throwing error, keeping her at 43 career home runs for now.

Orange (5-0, 1-0 in the Big 8) won its conference opener in only two-and-a-half innings, scoring nine in the first and eleven in the second. Freshman first baseman Jayden Hurdle went 2-for-2 with four RBIs and two runs scored. Hurdle is now hitting .611 with 12 RBIs. She also pitched all three innings, earning her first varsity win.

Alisha Pettiford also finished 2-for-2, scoring twice.

Sophomore Hayley Funk went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Senior Kristina Givens singled in both of her at-bats, improving her average to .600.

It was Orange’s 2nd win in two days. On Monday, they defeated East Chapel Hill 8-3. The Panthers travel to Northern Vance on Friday to finish the two-game series.

In starting the season with five straight wins, the Cedar Ridge baseball team had 15, 14, 11, 15, and seven runs to show for it.

Their lower amount of hits was eight in its 7-4 victory over Northern Vance last week in Henderson, the Red Wolves’ Big 8 opener.

Then came Thursday. More to the point, then came the Vikings’ Seth Boone.

The Vikings 5-5 senior pitcher threw a two-hit shutout in Northern Vance’s 4-1 victory over the Red Wolves (5-1, 1-1 in the Big 8). Only senior Brandon Andrews and Sailor Ramos scored hits for the Red Wolves.

Cedar Ridge earned the opener in the two-game series on Wednesday, beating the Vikings 7-4 on a blustery day in Henderson. Andrews earned the win, throwing five-plus innings, striking out six while scattering five hits. Evan Hall finished the game in relief.

Andrews also homered, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Erik Zehnder also homered for the Red Wolves, a two-run homer in the third innings.

Through five games, freshman Jake DeFranco leads the team with a .611 batting average, starting 11-for-20 with three doubles. Junior Adam Chnupa is hitting .500 at 7-for-14 with four RBIs.

On the mound, Andrews is 3-0 with a 1.83 ERA with 22 strikeouts and four walks. The Red Wolves host Chapel Hil on Tuesday, then travel to CHHS on Friday.

James 1:27: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

That’s the verse that made Orange Wrestling a brand name. Not the wins, not the state championship banners, not the things that are measured on a scoreboard.

Those can all been seen by the naked eye. What made Bobby Shriner a coaching legend were the things that couldn’t be seen.

It went on in the privacy of his home in Schley, a community along Highway 57 in northern Orange County. In his early days as Orange coach in the early 90s, Shriner would take at-risk youth without father figures and have them live with him. The afternoons would be spent at wrestling practice. The evenings would end with Bible readings and dinner with his wife, Cindy (none of their five children were born yet). One student lived with Shriner for four years. Instead of wandering the streets of the rougher areas of Hillsborough, Coach Shriner set a path for them to follow.

Several of those understudies never forgot.Years later, after they had grown into men, some of them have served as voluntary assistants under Coach Shriner. For every match, they’re all adorned with a white dress shirt, orange tie and baige pants, identical to the man who took a risk on them long before the championships started rolling in.

Those students understood Coach Shriner was doing more than just helping the less fortunate.

He was coaching. In the purest way.

“Cindy has always been open to that,” said Shriner. “If you can help someone out that way, it means a lot. That’s what’s wrong with our society. Kids don’t have dads. A lot of young girls don’t have dads. That leads to chaos.”

Now, Coach Shriner has decided that after 29 years, 610 dual match victories, five dual state championships, nine regional championships and 16 consecutive conference championships is enough.

During lunch on Wednesday afternoon, Shriner gathered his team into Mr. Moore’s office beside the weight room to tell his wrestlers that he was retiring at the end of the academic year.

The shock of the announcement sent ripples throughout the classroom. Many had tears in their eyes, as did Shriner and longtime assistant Spencer Poteat. Orange Principal Eric Yarbrough and Athletic Director Mark McCauley were also in attendance.

It was a whirlwind day. Hours after announcing the most emotional decision of his life, Shriner was at Raleigh-Durham International Airport ready to fly to St. Louis. The NCAA Division I Wrestling National Championships start Friday, which Shriner attends annually with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Ministry, of which he serves on the national board.

By chance, while he was at the ticket counter, he ran into Stu Koman, whose son wrestled at Jordan. By then, word of Shriner’s retirement had spread quickly, and Koman hugged the coach of a former conference rival.

Shriner made the decision to retire at the beginning of the year, but kept it closely guarded. He didn’t even tell his team at the season-ending banquet on March 4.

“It’s been on my mind the last couple of years,” said Shriner. “You get older. It gets tougher pushing guys. Wrestling is a physical sport and so it gets tougher. I didn’t say anything to the kids because it’s not about me. It’s about the kids.”

“For 29 years, I’ve done the same thing,” said Shriner. “I’ve worked over holidays. Hopefully, I’ll get more time with my children.”

An ACC Champion at 195 pounds with UNC in 1983 and 1984, Shriner was an All-American with the Tar Heels his senior year. He served one season as the head coach at Chapel Hill High, then moved to Orange in 1990, where he also served as an football assistant under then-head coach Greg Gentry.

Through 29 years, he’s fathered five children with Cindy.

His older daughter, Madison, is a flight attendant in Newark, New Jersey. Michaela is at N.C. State studying to become a veterinarian.  His youngest daughter Mileah will graduate from Orange in June after serving as manager for the wrestling team for four years. She’s expected to attend Appalachian State or N.C. State next fall.

It’s poetic that Shriner’s final season at Orange included so many milestones, both planned and otherwise. In the season-opening quad meet on November 21, Orange wrestled Sanderson, coach by Shriner’s son Nicholas.

In December, Shriner got to go home again. Orange traveled for a tournament at Roselle Park, New Jersey, where Shriner was a three-sport athlete in football, wrestling and baseball in the late 70s.

On January 21, he won his 600th dual match, beating Apex Friendship 72-9.

After earning his 9th regional championship by beating Gray’s Creek on February 2, one last state dual championship would have been the storybook ending. But life is no storybook, though Orange was only one takedown away from securing it. Leading 27-17 with four matches remaining, Piedmont rallied to defeat Orange 29-27.

Afterwards, several reporters walking over to interview Shriner nearly tripped over Pam Hawkins, the wife of asssistant Randy Hawkins. She was on the floor embracing several inconsolable wrestlers, all of them shielding their tears on her sweatshirt.

While Shriner is too religious to be a poker player, he did tip his hand about his future during an subsequent interview. When a writer brought up Orange has three seniors next season, Shriner said, “You never know what can happen from one year to the next. You just hope for the best.”

Shriner is almost universally lauded among rivals and cohorts alike, which made his final competition one week later so ironic. With Payton Wilson going for the 220 state championship at the Greensboro Coliseum, he led Dan Louba of Hickory Ridge 4-3 in the final second of the third period. Louba shot in for a takedown as the clock expired. The referees ruled he scored the takedown before the final buzzer, momentarily giving Louba a 5-4 win for the state championship. And the first person to beat Wilson all year.

In a scene eerily similar to the Dusty Rhodes finishes in the Greensboro Coliseum during the mid-1980s, Louba began celebrating with his coaches. Meanwhile, Shriner appealed to the tournament director. Even though there were two referees, neither of them watched the clock as it ran out. The mat maids from Eden Morehead High (which, in another irony, has been Orange’s biggest rival in recent years) said the clock had expired before Louba scored the takedown.

Wilson was declared the winner, Shriner’s 24th individual state champion.

They were booed out of the building.

“Now I know what it’s like to be the bad guy,” said Shriner.

Now, Shriner will have more time to devote to his children, to the FCA, and to trying to grow the sport of wrestling. He’s been outspoken about the lack of middle school wrestling programs across the Triangle, namely in Raleigh.

His 24 state champions, nine regional titles and ten state championships (five dual and five in the individual tournament) will be what puts him in the NCHSAA Hall of Fame.

Looking after orphans in distress will be his legacy.

610 dual match victories, 9 regional championships, five state championships and countless lives influenced.

And now, after 35 years, Orange Wrestling Coach Bobby Shriner has decided that’s enough.

Shriner announced this afternoon that he will retire as a teacher at the end of this academic year. He leaves after coaching Orange to the 3A state championship in the individual tournament last month at the Greensboro Coliseum. Shriner’s last meet may have featured the most dramatic moment of his career. Payton Wilson won the 220 pound state championship over Dan Louba of Hickory Ridge 4-3, though Louba appeared to score a takedown in the last second of the match. Shriner appealed to the tournament director, who ruled that Louba’s takedown occurred after the final period had expired. Photographic evidence showed the takedown was, indeed, a fraction of a second late.

The Panthers captured the 3A Dual Wrestling Regional Championship, losing to Piedmont High for the state title in Monroe.

Shriner joined Orange in 1990 as an assistant coach under Jim King, taking over the reigns of the wrestling program a year later.

We’ll have more details later on.

Photo by Dave Lindaman 

When Orange Baseball Coach Dean Dease finished his fall workout in October, he looked at a blank lineup card thinking about potential starters for his season-opener in March.

An uneasy feeling set in.

For four years, the opening day starter was written in ink, barring injury. It was Bryse Wilson. And most of the starting lineup was almost as elementary.

That process grew much harder this year.

Orange baseball is going through 2017 following a dropoff in talent rarely seen over the course of a year. Bryse Wilson, the most successful pitcher in Orange history, graduated from Orange on June 9 with a career record of 33-4 with a 0.90 ERA. He struck out 335 batters in four years, which was really three-and-a-half because of a shoulder injury suffered in his sophomore season.

Accompanying him in turning the tassels was his battery mate for four years, catcher Brad Debo. He ended his Orange career with a .428 average with 13 home runs and 100 RBIs. Now a freshman at N.C. State, Debo has already started 13 games with the Wolfpack, hitting .340 with five doubles, a home run and 11 RBIs.

If you’re waiting for another arm like Wilson’s or a bat like Debo’s to pop up around Hillsborough again any time soon, you may as well be hoping to see Greyson Allen be honored at the Smith Center for his final game in Chapel Hill next year, if he’s even back to begin with.

Then there’s the six other position players that Orange lost. First baseman Austin Sykes, shortstop Cameron Mehl, left fielder Chandler Compton, right fielders Jamil Jordan and centerfielder Johnny Flynn and 3rd baseman Cole Campanile.

And top reliever Landon Riley.

Those players were part of four consecutive Big 8 Conference Championships, two district titles, and a sectional championship. They went 92-16 over a four year period.

Now, with Orange facing a lull in action this week because of rain and cold weather, the Panthers will continue its season against Corinth-Holders with a 1-3 record following a 3-0 loss to Southern Lee on Saturday.

Before the season started, Dease compared his 2017 squad to his 2009 team. Orange had won the 2008 2-A State Championship but lost nine seniors to graduation. The 2009 squad finished 7-7.

“We hope to be a good team by April,” said Dease after the loss to the Cavaliers on Saturday. “We have younger players to develop. The only position players we have returning from last year are Jaydin Poteat and Jason Slaughter. So we have some growing to do.”

Southern Lee (6-0) notched its fourth straight shoutout, though there were anxious moments. The Panthers loaded the bases in the 4th inning with no outs after Caige Clayton reached on an error, Eric Nichols ripped a line drive down the third base line, and catcher Dylan Hall reached on another error. Cavaliers pitcher Topher Grant calmly struck out the next two batters, then shortstop Joey Berini lined out to left fielder Jonathan Husk to escape the treat unharmed.

Despite taking his first loss of the season, Orange pitcher Derek Lindaman threw a solid five and two-thirds innings. Two of Southern Lee’s runs came when the first three batters of the game reached in the first inning. Grant lined a two-run single to left field to score Husk and Noah Terhune.

In the middle innings, Lindaman retired 12 in a row. He finished with ten strikeouts, yielding only three hits.

Orange’s game against East Chapel Hill was postponed on Wednesday night at Panther Field because of wet grounds. A make-up date hasn’t been released.