LANGHORNE, PA: The Highlanders returned to conference play Friday afternoon as the Knights of Neumann University traveled north on I-95 for some afternoon baseball.  Cairn was edged by Neumann 8-7 on a top of the 9th leadoff homerun.  Cairn followed up their 21 hit performance Wednesday afternoon, by jumping out to 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.  Joey Nieves-Markee singled to left field and quickly stole second base.  Aaron Takacs then drew a full count walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd for Caleb Lang.  Lang then hit a long fly ball to score Nieves-Markee.  Daniel Morales then drew the second walk of the inning to load the bases for freshman Keith LeNoue.  LeNoue wasted little time as he took the 1-0 count to deep right field for a bases clearing double.  LeNoue advanced to third on a ground out by Matt Buckery, before scoring on a wild pitch to give the Highlanders a 5-0 lead.  

The Knights wasted little time cutting into the Highlanders lead in the top of the 2nd.  AJ Koscelansky doubled to deep right field.  The next batter was hit by a pitch, placing men on 1st and 2nd.  A Cairn error plated the first Neumann run, before a fielders choice allowed the Knights to score their second run of the inning.  The Highlanders were able to avoid any further damage as they escaped the inning only giving up two runs.

Neumann got back on the scoreboard in the top of the 5th as back to back to back singles plated one run.  With runners on first and second, Knights catcher Cody MacNair, deposited Eric Stinglen's 1-1 pitch over the right field fence for a three run homerun, and giving the Knights their first lead of the game 6-5.  The lead was short lived, because in the bottom of the fifth, Lang led off the inning with a walk.  LeNoue singled for his second hit of the game, and on a heads up play, Lang kept running and advanced to third on a head-first slide.  Shortstop, Matthew Buckery then singled, which brought home Lang to tie the game at 6.

The score remained tied into the bottom of the 7th as LeNoue would lead off the inning with a single, and advance to second on a groundout by Matt Buckery.  This brought Jacob Allen to the plate to pinch hit, and the junior utility player would not disappoint.  Allen would single to center field, LeNoue would advance to third and score on an error by the center fielder.  It was up to the Cairn bullpen to maintain the lead, but the Knights were able to tie the game in the top of the 8th.  A walk, a balk, an error, and single once again tied the back and forth game.  

Jackson Godfrey was called upon in the top of the 9th to keep the game tied.  However, designated hitter, Nick Panissidi took Godfrey's pitch to the deepest part of the ball park and gave the Knights their final lead of the game 8-7.  The Highlanders made it interesting the bottom of the 9th as LeNoue would reach base again on a play where he was originally ruled out by the field umpire, before being overturned by the plate umpire.  A single would put runners on first and second with only one out in the inning.  However, the Knights closer was able to record the final two outs of the game, allowing Neumann to hang on for the win.

Coach Haas had this to say about today's game.  "I continue to be pleased with the team's ability to hit the ball.  Neumann is a perennial conference playoff team and we lost a tough one run game to a good team.  We will find a way to start to win these games we are losing by 1 run."  

Senior Caleb Lang had this to add about the team's performance.  "The outcome of today's game was disappointing, as it gives us back to back 1 run conference losses.  Our offense was plenty good enough to win a ball game as we had 15 hits, Tack (Aaron Takacs) and Joey (Nieves-Markee) are ripping the cover off the ball at the top of the lineup.  The energy and passion was there, however we lacked executing when it mattered most.  Neumann is a good ball club and if you let good ball clubs hang around and give them extra opportunities, you usually end up paying for it.  Tomorrow is a new day and I expect the same enthusiasm and passion as today."  

Cairn was led by Keith LeNoue who was 3-4 from the plate with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI.  Lang, Nieves-Markee, Takacs, and Buckery all had at least 2 hits.  The Highlanders had their chances as they stranded 9 runners on base throughout the course of the game.

Neumann improves to 11-9 on the season (4-0 in the CSAC) as the Highlanders fall to 8-8 (0-4 in the CSAC).  Zach Youngberg picked up the win for the Knights, while Jackson Godfrey takes the Loss.  Anthony Stricker picked up his 3rd save of the season.  The Highlanders will try to bounce back as they will head to Aston, PA tomorrow for 2 more games with the Knights, first pitch is slated for 1:00 pm.