MYRTLE BEACH, SC – The Cairn Highlanders Baseball team traveled down south to the Ripken Experience Myrtle Beach for a six-game slate last week.
 
The Highlanders got things started with a doubleheader against Manchester University (2-3) on Monday. Junior first baseman Tyler Warr (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) kicked off the trip with a 2-run homer, scoring sophomore catcher Zach Bauers (Cooper City, FL / Cooper City). The Spartans scored in the bottom half of the first with Cairn answering via freshman shortstop Nathan Schurga (Wilmington, DE / Conrad Schools of Science) driving in fifth year second baseman Joe Greenwood (Wall, NJ / Calvary Academy) with a single. Schurga would score by way of a single up the middle from freshman centerfielder Zach Johnson (Hawaii Kai, HI / TCS Post Grad Academy). Cairn put up three runs in the third as Bauers, Warr, and junior outfielder Will Wikner (Gaithersburg, MD / Shenandoah University) scored. The Highlanders would pull away late and take their first win of the trip, 11-2. 
 
Senior righty Eli Schooley (Horseheads, NY / Horseheads) picked up the win, pitching 6.0 innings, surrendering only a pair of earned runs as he struck out five. Classmate Connor Ferguston (Laguna Niguel, CA / Capistrano Valley Christian School) locked it down in the seventh.
 
Manchester (2-4) opened game two on top 5-0, adding a pair in the second as the Highlanders were tasked with a 7-0 deficit. A Schurga single would score fifth year utility man Sam Spadea (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) and Warr to get the Highlanders on the board. Manchester added two more in response to rebuild their lead. Junior right fielder Dylan Jackson (Levittown, PA / Chestnut Hill College) doubled down the right field line scoring Johnson and fifth year outfielder Tyler Fox (Boyertown, PA / West-Mont Christian Academy) to make it a 9-4 game. Sophomore righty Greg Jessup (Tyler, TX / McKinney Christian Academy) was called upon to shut down the Spartan offense and he did his job, pitching three scoreless innings, striking out three and allowing only a pair of hits. The Cairn offense would be held scoreless down the stretch as they dropped the nightcap to Manchester, 9-4. Warr went 6-6 in the split with the Spartans, hitting a perfect 4-4 in game one and 2-2 in the nightcap.
 
Tuesday brought the Engineers of WPI (4-0), who the Highlanders took on at Pelicans Ballpark. Freshman righty Mikey Gutierrez (Cooper City, FL / St. Thomas Aquinas) made his second start of the season, hurling 5.0 innings and allowing a single earned run on three hits, striking out seven Engineer hitters. After his departure, WPI would combine for 17 runs in the final three innings of the game. The Highlanders would get on the scoreboard by way of a single from freshman catcher Isaac Peterson (Ocean City, NJ / Ocean City) scoring Johnson in the eighth inning. Sophomore shortstop Donald Kennedy (Cincinnati, OH / Bethel-Tate High School) worked a walk with the bases loaded in the ninth inning as the Highlanders fell 19-2. 
 
After an off-day on Wednesday, Cairn was back in action Thursday night against the Johnson & Wales Wildcats (3-0). Warr opened up the game with a double to left field, scoring Johnson to put the Highlanders up early. JWU homered in the bottom half to tie things up. Bauers was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the second, scoring Wikner to grab the lead back. With their turn at bat, the Wildcats brought three runs across to score, taking a 4-2 lead. They added four more in the fourth, putting Cairn behind 8-2. Johnson & Wales added a pair in the eighth inning for a final score of 10-2. 
 
Friday featured a doubleheader with King's College (3-2). Junior lefty Joe Battaglia (Franklin, TN / Brentwood Academy) got the start and went five scoreless innings, allowing a single hit and striking out two as he moved to 1-0 on the season. The Highlander offense got started in the third inning as Greenwood scored on an error by the Monarchs. Bauers followed with a single to left field, scoring Johnson and Schurga. Spadea came up with the bases loaded, blasting his first homerun of the season, a grand slam, bringing Warr, Bauers, and Fox in to score and providing an early 6-0 lead for Cairn. Johnson scored Jackson on a sacrifice fly as the Highlander batted around in the inning, now up 7-0. King's only answer came in the sixth, scoring on a double down the right field line. The Highlanders added more in the sixth as junior outfielder Tyler Harris (Oxford, PA / Oxford Area) came in to score on a wild pitch. Wikner would then single, scoring Warr. Game one was taken in favor of the Highlanders, 10-1.
 
In game two, Jessup got the start, pitching five hitless innings and striking out four before surrendering the first hit for the Monarchs in the sixth. It was all Cairn on offense Friday night. Jackson got started in the third with a single, scoring Greenwood. Bauers came up and deposited a double down the left field line, driving in Jackson and Johnson. In the fourth, Johnson singled, scoring Wikner. Jackson added a double to right field, bringing Harris and graduate shortstop Josh Roberts (Bayonne, NJ / County College of Morris). Greenwood doubled as well in the frame, scoring Wikner and providing an 8-0 lead. Warr singled up the middle in the sixth for a RBI from Johnson scoring. Spadea put the ball in play to score Jackson. Fox closed the night in the top of the seventh with a triple to score Roberts and Kennedy, Cairn now ahead 12-0. Senior righty Ethan Fineman (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy High School) and freshman right hander Jack Wright (Telford, PA / Souderton) closed the door in the sixth and seventh, respectively, each striking out a pair and locking down the shutout.
 
Over the week, Warr extended his hitting streak the 38 games, the longest in current era of Cairn Baseball (official hitting-streak records date back to 2014) and a 40-game on-base streak. 
 
The Highlanders head to Baltimore on Monday afternoon to take on the #8 Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins University at 3:30 p.m. before opening conference play against Valley Forge in their home opener on Friday.