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Hillsborough Sports | Hillsborough Sports’s live audio

We cover Hillsborough Sports. Play-by-play for Orange and Cedar Ridge baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, softball and lacrosse!

The past four years, Cedar Ridge baseball has started each Central Conference season by splitting a two-game series against Walter Williams.

For an experienced team with lofty expectations this year, the Red Wolves want to start the league campaign with a sweep of the Bulldogs. On Tuesday night, they couldn’t have asked for a better start.

Junior Grant McGuffey drove in four runs as Cedar Ridge stormed out to a 5-0 lead and dominated Walter Williams 12-2 in five innings at Red Wolves Field. Senior Quinn Finnegan, who has committed to Division I Wagner College, earned his first win of the season by striking out five in four innings.

The first six Red Wolves to step up to the plate all reached in the bottom of the first, starting with a line drive up the middle by Ian McGuffey. After junior Dominic Sena walked, John Grove loaded the bases on an infield hit. Grant McGuffey drove in two runs with another single to centerfield. Finnegan scored Grove on a throwing error to first base. Freshman Jesse Velazquez drew a bases-loaded walk to score Finnegan.

Cedar Ridge added two more runs in the second inning starting with singles from Sena and Grove. Aidan Ryan lined to right field to score Sena and McGuffey.

Grove, who finished 3-for-3, doubled to right field in the bottom of the third to score Ian McGuffey, who reached off a single to centerfield.

Finnegan led off the fourth with a hard grounder to left field for a single. John Morgan reached on an error, allowing Finnegan to reach third base. Cedar Ridge executed a double steal where Morgan reached 2nd while Finnegan scored off the throw. Velazquez popped out to centerfield and scored Morgan on a sacrifice.

Cedar Ridge (2-4 overall, 1-0 in the Central Conference) will host Chapel Hill on Wednesday night at 7.

Orange 7, East Chapel Hill 1: After struggling offensively in consecutive losses to Millbrook and Grimsley last week, Orange took advantage of free bases to secure a win over the Wildcats in Hillsborough on Tuesday night.

Garrett Sawyer sent a classic pop-up home run over Orange’s left field porch  to even the game in the third inning, then reached base on the most crucial sequence of the game during a four-run 4th inning. After Mason Grooms got on board with a roller to right field with two out, Kayden Bradsher was beaned on the front leg. Sawyer swung and missed at a 1-2 pitch, but the ball bounced off the dirt and ricocheted off the fence. Sawyer raced down the line off the dropped 3rd strike to load the bases.

Sophomore Oliver Van Tiem walked with the bases loaded to put Orange ahead 2-1. Designated hitter Henry Hoffman, batting cleanup for the first time in his career, drilled a two-run single up the middle to score Grooms and Bradsher. Gary Miller drilled a single to left field, advancing Hoffman to third. East Chapel Hill installed Tomas Robertson as pitcher to replace starter Ryan Cabe, who moved to catcher. As Eli Horton was at bat, Cabe threw the ball back after an 0-1 pitch over the head of Robertson, which allowed Hoffman to score and increase the Orange lead to 6-1.

Ryan Sawyer earned his third win of the season by striking out ten over five innings. He allowed one run over six hits with zero walks.

Garrett Sawyer started the sixth inning with a double to Scoreboard Ally in right centerfield, the deepest part of Panther Field. Van Tiem sent a fly ball to right field that was dropped, sending Sawyer to third. Hoffman drove in his third run of the game with a fielder’s choice to East Chapel Hill shortstop Sam Smith, who threw out Van Tiem to second but scored Sawyer.

Brown and Grooms threw the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to close out the win for Orange (4-3).

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This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior wrestler Braden Crawford. This winter, Crawford won his third Central Conference Tournament championship. In January at Williams High School, Crawford pinned James Farmer of Person in the championship match to claim the 138-pounds title. He finished undefeated against conference opponents in his career during a time when Cedar Ridge and Person fielded some of their best teams in their respective histories. A starter since his freshman year, Crawford qualified for the state championships three times. He finished this season 28-7 and won over 100 matches in his career. In his junior season, Crawford finished 33-6 and wound up beating Takota Tala of Parkwood in Greensboro during the consolation round. In 2024, he finished fourth in the Mideast Regionals at 126-pounds. In his sophomore year, Crawford finished 2nd in the Mideast Regionals at Cedar Ridge High School, beating Ethan Croom of West Johnston to reach the final at 126 pounds. He won two matches at the 2023 State Championships, beating Matthew Mehaffey of Pisgah 7-5 in overtime. He also scored a major decision Styler Oxford of West Carteret. Crawford will continue his wrestling career at Ferrum College in Virginia, which is transitioning to Division II and will compete in Conference Carolinas. He will be coached by former Orange star Braden Homsey, who is an assistant with Ferrum.

Orange Panther of the Week: Braden Crawford

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior wrestler Braden Crawford. This winter, Crawford won his third Central Conference Tournament championship. In January at Williams High School, Crawford pinned James Farmer of Person in the championship match to claim the 138-pounds title.

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