LA PLUME, Pa. – The No. 3 seed Cairn University baseball team lost, 14-6, in the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Semifinals against No. 2 see Wilson College on Saturday afternoon, eliminating the Highlanders from the conference tournament. Wilson advanced to the championship game, where they fell to top-seeded Keystone College, 10-8, later in the day.
 
Wilson (34-10) came out the gates with the bats hot, throwing up five runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a comfortable 5-0 advantage. Cairn (22-21) responded with a pair of runs in the top of the second, capped off by an RBI-single by junior Jake Meisel (Newark, DE / Rosemont College). After Wilson extended the lead to 6-2, Meisel flipped the game upside down in the top of the fourth inning, hammering a three-run homer out to left field to cut the Wilson lead to just one (6-5). The Phoenix got those runs back after scoring three unanswered runs (9-5), before another RBI-knock by Meisel in the top of the eighth cut the lead to three (9-6). However, Wilson took firm control of the contest in the bottom half, plating five runs to extend the lead to 14-6, sealing the win for the Phoenix.
 
Meisel led the Highlander bats with three hits and a game-high five RBIs. Meisel recorded his 100^th career collegiate hit off of his three-run homer in the fourth inning. Sophomore Tyler Warr (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) matched Meisel with three hits, while classmate Jared Sucro (Kamloops, BC / St. Ann's Academy) and senior Jake Arnoldy (West Grove, PA / Wilmington Christian School) each posted a pair of base knocks. Sophomore Joe Battaglia (Brielle, NJ / Brentwood Academy) got the start in the elimination game, going 3.1 innings, scattering eight hits, four earned runs and striking out one. Junior Ethan Fineman (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) hurled 2.2 innings out of the pen, giving up no earned runs.
 
Cairn concludes the 2023 campaign with an overall record of 22-21 and were 12-6 in regular season conference play, the most single-season conference wins in program history. Cairn made its fourth consecutive CSAC semifinal appearance, and had four players eclipse 100 career hits this year.