Orange upsets South Johnston baseball behind Lindaman’s outing

When Orange lost to Southern Lee on March 11, Panthers baseball coach Dean Dease privately shared a short-term mission for his young squad that lost eight starters from 2015.

“Our goal is to become a good team by April,” said Dease.

They may have missed the deadline, but better late than never.

For the second straight year, Orange defeated South Johnston in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3A playoffs, advancing 4-2 on Tuesday afternoon in Four Oaks.

Orange pitcher Derek Lindaman scattered only four hits for his fifth complete game of the season. It was Lindaman’s fourth straight win.

“You’ve got to hand it to Derek,” said Dease. “He challenged them when he needed to. He worked both sides of the plate. When he had to have that breaking ball over the plate, he threw it over.”

The Panthers scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning when freshman Joey Berini singled to left field, scoring right fielder Rodney Brooks to put Orange ahead 3-1. In the bottom of the frame, the Trojans put runners at second and third with one out.

First baseman Grant Millay crossed the plate after an RBI groundout by Thomas Carpenter, moving pinch-runner Brayden Kauppi to third. In the next at-bat, Carter Beal took ball four, which got away from Orange catcher Ryan Puckett. Kauppi raced for the plate in an attempt to tie the game, but was tagged out by Lindaman to end the inning.

Orange (13-12) got insurance in the seventh when Caige Clayton hit a leadoff double. Dalton Brown laid down a sacrifice bunt, which was thrown into right field, and Clayton scored despite colliding with Beal at home.

Lindaman retired the Trojans in order in the seventh to seal the win.

Now, Orange sets its sights on a potential rematch with Southern Lee, who faces Northern Vance on Wednesday in Sanford.

So is Dease ready to call his squad a good one?

“I’m not sure we’re good yet, but we’re getting better,” said Dease.

The loss was a crushing end to the season for the Trojans (16-9), who appeared set for a strong postseason run. South Johnston, starting six seniors, had won 14 of its last 15.

After a 2-7 start, the Trojans captured the Johnston County Easter Tournament championship in April, then won the Two Rivers regular season championship for the first time since 2007 with a 9-1 record.

Instead, head coach Aaron Parnell had look at some very long faces in the postgame team meeting.

“You never plan for a discussion like that,” said Parnell. “We won three championships this year that no one can take away from us. Looking back, obviously there’s one more championship we would like to have. Of course, everybody in the state would like to have that one.”

Long after the game had ended, as parents and fans mulled around the ballpark, seniors Noah Bridges, Sauyer Roberts and Hunter Parker laid on their backs around home plate together looking at the sky.

Even as the underclassmen raked the dirt and picked up the bases around them, the seniors weren’t ready to leave their home field behind on the last night they would play on it.

“It’s tough,” said Parnell.

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 12:14 AM with the headline "Orange upsets South Johnston baseball behind Lindaman’s outing."