BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Cairn University baseball team traveled to Bethlehem to take on NCAA Division I foe Lehigh University out of the Patriot League in a non-conference contest, falling 9-4 in the first-ever contest between the two teams on Thursday. The contest was broadcasted nationally on ESPN+, the first ever national broadcast of a Cairn baseball game.
Both teams engaged in a defensive battle early, as graduate student
Carson Conradt (Chino Hills, CA / Chino Hills) kept the Mountain Hawk bats quiet through four innings. Lehigh (21-19, 8-10 Patriot League) struck first in the fifth inning after playing three runs to take a 3-0 lead. Cairn (25-13, 8-4 CSAC) cut the deficit to just two (3-1) after freshman
Jared Sucro (Kamloops, British Columbia / St. Ann's Academy) trotted across home on a fielder's choice in the top of the sixth, before the Mountain Hawks posted three more runs in the bottom half to lead 6-1. Lehigh took command in the seventh with three more runs and led 9-1, before freshman
Tyler Warr (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) hammered a bases-clearing double into the gap in right-center field to give the Highlanders life in the top of the eighth. However, Lehigh slammed the door and collected its 11
th-straight victory over non-division I opponents.
Warr led the Highlanders on offense with his three RBIs courtesy of the bases-clearing double, while senior
Joshua Melchior (Boyertown, PA / Valley Forge Baptist Academy) recorded Cairn's other hit on the day as well as a stolen base. Conradt impressed on the mound, going 5.1 innings, scattering seven hits, six runs (four earned) and striking out four. Graduate Student's
Ben Spadea (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) and
Bryan Stimpson (Monroeville, NJ / Cornell University) combined for 1.2 scoreless innings out of the pen in relief.
Cairn will be back on the diamond on Tuesday, May 3 when it wraps up its regular season slate with a road bout at non-conference adversary Cabrini University at 3:30 p.m.
