LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University baseball team won, 4-3, in walk-off fashion at home against non-conference adversary Delaware Valley University on Wednesday evening. With the win, the Highlanders officially tied the program record for wins in a season with their 20
th victory.
Cairn (20-11, 6-4 CSAC) jumped on the board first when graduate student
Brian Amantia Jr. (Columbus, NJ / King's Christian) delivered a sacrifice fly to put the Highlanders up 1-0 in the first inning. Delaware Valley (12-17, 3-12 MAC Freedom) took the lead with a pair of runs in the top half of the second, before Cairn regained the advantage (3-2) with two runs in the third frame, highlighted by an RBI-single by junior
Samuel Spadea (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury). The Aggies knotted the game up at three a-piece in the top of the fourth before both offenses went quiet for most of the remainder of the contest. The Aggies had a chance to gain the lead in the top half of the ninth inning with a runner in scoring position with two outs, but newly entered reliever graduate student
Bryan Stimpson (Monroeville, NJ / Cornell University) induced a groundout to send the game to the bottom of the ninth. After Del Val retired one hitter, Amantia stepped to the plate and drew the count to 1-1, before launching his seventh home run of the season over the fence in right field to walk-off the Aggies and give Cairn its 20
th victory of the season.
Cairn was led offensively by senior
Joshua Melchior (Boyertown, PA / Valley Forge Baptist Academy) and freshman
Jared Sucro (Kamloops, British Columbia / St. Ann's Academy) who each tallied a pair of hits and one run scored, along with a pair of stolen bases. Stimpson picked up his third win of the season in relief, while sophomore
Connor Ferguson (Laguna Niguel, CA / Capistrano Valley Christian) delivered his best outing of the season, tossing four scoreless innings in relief, scattering two hits and three strikeouts. Graduate student
Ben Spadea (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) put forth 1.2 innings in relief on the hill, allowing just one hit, no runs and striking out three, lowering his earned run average to 2.89 on the season.
Cairn will be back on the diamond tomorrow when it welcomes non-conference foe Gwynedd Mercy University to Langhorne for a single, nine-inning contest inside the Stillman Complex at 3:30 p.m.
