LANGHORNE, PA- On a dramatic Wednesday afternoon, the Highlanders punched their ticket to the CSAC Championship thanks to two key 8th inning home runs from Alejandro Fernandez and Mike Sorowice!
 
Wilson struck first, catching two fastballs from Cairn starter Sam Dralle for back-to-back doubles to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the first. Dralle and Wilson starter Zack Sutherland cruised through the next couple innings until the bottom of the fourth. Emilio Alvarez and Brett Marks singled, and freshman Caleb Edman rapped a sharp single through the left side to score Alvarez. Dralle battled, despite getting harder than he's accustomed. The hard-throwing righty gave up 10 hits, but held the Phoenix offense to only four runs in his six innings before handing the ball off to Daniel Morales in the 7^th. While the Highlanders trailed by a mere three runs, the energy level in the Cairn dugout waned as they notched just one run in the first six innings. Edman provided a spark for the Highlanders once more, singling and stealing second in the bottom of the 7^th. After two fly outs from Mike Sorowice and Brian Amantia, Edman sat just 90 feet from the Highlanders second run of the day. The middle infield tandem of Josh Melchior and Nate Wilson came through in a major way, crushing back-to-back doubles into the gap to bring Cairn within one and inject some much-needed energy into the Highlanders. With Morales locked in on the mound, the Highlanders headed to the bottom of the 8^th in search of the game-tying run. Senior third basemen Alejandro Fernandez wasted no time, unloading on a first pitch fastball and sending it deep over the left-field fence to complete the Highlander comeback and tie the game 4-apiece. With the entire Cairn campus buzzing after Fernandez's big fly, Mike Sorowice channeled the energy, blasting an 0-1 fastball high into the sky for a two-run homerun to give the Highlanders their first lead of the day. Fully in control on the mound, Morales cruised through the top of the 9^th, slamming the door and sending Cairn to their first CSAC Championship ever.
 
Josh Melchior was a perfect 2-2 with 3 walks, Brett Marks and Caleb Edman each went 2-4, and Fernandez and Sorowice came through with two huge swings to push Cairn onto the title.


The Highlanders will travel to take on the Keystone Giants in a three game series for the CSAC title over the weekend. Game one will be Friday afternoon at 3:00 PM, before a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 12:00 PM.