Lake Myrtle, FL - The Cairn Highlanders opened their 2017 Spring Break Trip on Saturday with a doubleheader against Stockton University. The Highlanders shook off a slow offensive start to split with the Osprey on the day. Cairn dropped the first game 2-0, collecting just three hits in the contest. The Highlanders woke up from their offensive slumber with a seven-run third inning that propelled them to a 10-1 victory in Game Two.

Game One - Stockton defeats Cairn 2-0

Cairn's offense struggled to string hits together in Game One, eventually falling 2-0 to Stockton University in their Spring Break opener. Sam Dralle went five innings and scattered seven hits for the Highlanders on the mound, but took the tough luck loss allowing two runs in the third on a home run to left center.

Nathan Wilson led the Highlanders with a pair of singles in three trips to the plate. Emilio Alvarez collected Cairn's only other hit with a two-out single in the seventh.

Cairn's best opportunities came in the fourth and the seventh, when they got runners on first and second, but could not push across the elusive run.

In the fourth inning, Nathan Wilson started the rally with a one-out single down the right-field line. The hit, was the Highlanders first runner of the contest. Wilson moved to second on a groundout by Aaron Takacs and Josh Field walked to put runners on first and second, but a broken stolen base play ended the inning and the Highlanders left the frame without a run.

In the seventh it was Wilson again giving the Highlanders a spark. Wilson led off the frame with a single up the middle, for his second hit in as many at bats. With two outs, Emilio Alvarez singled through the left-side for the Highlanders' third hit of the game, but a strike out ended the game.

Stockton's Dylan Warburton threw a complete game gem allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out season-high 10 batters.

Game Two - Cairn defeats Stockton 10-2

Game Two was a completely different ballgame. The Highlanders exploded for 10 runs in the second game of the doubleheader and rolled Stockton 10-1. Kameron Bradshaw started on the bump for Cairn and wiggled his way out of trouble on multiple occasions. Bradshaw eluded the big inning right off the bat when the first three batters of the game singled to load the bases with no outs.

The Highlanders allowed just one run on a sacrifice fly before Bradshaw struck out two of the next three batters to strand the bases juiced with the Ospreys leading just 1-0.

Cairn tied the game in the bottom of the second when Brendan Keller went the other way with a double right over third base. Keller's double drove home Cam Kantner, who had singled earlier in the inning to right-center.

With the game tied 1-1, Bradshaw threw a scoreless top of the third before the Highlanders released a seven-run frame on Stockton. The inning started with an eight-pitch at bat by Nathan Wilson that ended in a walk. After a fly out, Josh Field ripped a double to left center
to put two in scoring position.

Emilio Alvarez broke the seal with an RBI single to right field on a 2-2 pitch to give Cairn a 2-1 lead. Keith LeNoue doubled home another run with a double down the left field line. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly gave Cairn two more runs and pushed the lead to 5-1. It also ran Stockton starter, Brandon Perna, from the game with five runs scored on seven hits in 2.2 innings.

With a new pitcher in the game, the Highlanders got right back to work. Kantner hammered a doubled to right field and then stole third. He came home on a beautifully bunt by Keller that hugged the third baseline for a base hit without a throw.

Two more runs scored on a wild pitch and a single by Wilson to give Cairn an 8-1 lead heading to the fourth.

The inning featured seven hits, including three doubles for the Highlanders.

Cairn added insurance runs in the fourth and fifth with RBI singles from Field and Jacob Allen. The Highlanders clean innings from Matt Trotman, Nathan Wilson, and Albert Taylor in relief to earn the 10-1 victory.

In the second game the Highlanders went 17-32 at the plate for a .531 batting average as a team. Six Highlanders collected multi-hit games with Takacs, Field, and Kantner each collecting three knocks each. Kantner finished a home run shy of the cycle.

With four strong innings, Bradshaw picked up the victory for the Highlanders to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

Cairn moves to 5-1 on the season with the split on Saturday. the Highlanders will continue their Spring Break Trip on Sunday when they take on FDU - Florham in a doubleheader beginning at noon.