LANGHORNE, PA – The Cairn Baseball team kicked off their United East Skye Division schedule on Friday afternoon, taking a commanding 24-1 victory over the Patriots of the University of Valley Forge.
Cairn (5-7) got the offensive pace set in the first inning as freshman centerfielder
Zachary Johnson (Hawaii Kai, HI / TCS Post Grad Academy) beat out a ground ball to third base. Junior leftfielder
Will Wikner (Gaithersburg, MD / Shenandoah University) singled up the middle, driving in Johnson. Johnson and sophomore catcher
Zach Bauers (Cooper City, FL / Cooper City) put pressure on Valley Forge (4-5) with a double steal getting both runners into scoring position for fifth year third baseman
Sam Spadea (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) to allow them to score on a 2 RBI single.
After batting through the lineup in the first, junior right fielder
Dylan Jackson (Levittown, PA / Chestnut Hill College) singled up the middle followed by Bauers getting hit by a pitch to put two on base with one out. Junior first baseman
Tyler Warr (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy), Wikner, and Spadea had three straight singles for three more runs with Wikner and Spadea coming all the way around the diamond on a single from fifth year second baseman
Joe Greenwood (Wall, NJ / Calvary Academy). The Highlanders would bat around again in the second with Johnson scoring Greenwood on a two-out single, Cairn now up 10-0.
Bauers led off the third with a walk followed by a single from Warr. Spdea added another RBI, scoring Bauers on a single to third base. Fifth year designated hitter
Tyler Fox (Boyertown, PA / West-Mont Christian Academy) would be the third victim of an errant pitch, getting hit to load the bases. Greenwood worked a walk to score Warr with Spadea coming in on freshman shortstop
Nathan Schurga's (Wilmington, DE / Conrad Schools of Science) sacrifice fly to right.
Three Highlanders would be hit by pitches in the fourth as Cairn added four more runs to put the game out of reach, 17-0. Sophomore outfielder
James Wtulich (Vernon, NJ / Vernon Township High School) and freshman catcher
Jay Sariano (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) led off the fifth inning each getting plunked to put two runners on for freshman first baseman
Zachary Dennis (Midland Park, NJ / Midland Park HS) to pick up his first collegiate hit on a two-run double to the right field gap. Schurga added a double to his day, driving in a pair followed by an RBI single from sophomore outfielder
Caden Hill (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) as the score reached 22-0.
The Patriots would break up the shutout in the sixth, scoring their only run of the day on a pair of singles. The Highlanders got the run right back in the bottom half as junior outfielder
Tyler Harris (Oxford, PA / Oxford Area HS) doubled to right center, scoring two.
Senior righty
Eli Schooley (Horseheads, NY / Horseheads) got the start on the bump for the Highlanders, pitching five innings, 3.1 of which were perfect. He allowed only two hits and held the Patriots scoreless, striking out five, as he picked up his second win of the year. Sophomore reliever
Evan Hughes (Levittown, PA / Neshaminy) shut things down as he pitched a scoreless seventh inning with a strikeout for the Highlanders to take a 24-1 win by mercy rule in seven innings.
Spadea led the offense as he went 3-3 on the day with 4 RBI's. Johnson, Warr, and Wikner each had a pair of hits as 11 Highlanders were in the hit column.
The twenty four runs scored on Friday tie the all-time record for runs scored on the fourth occasion, the other three being March 29, 2023 against Penn College, April 22, 2023 against Clarks Summit, and April 19, 2016 against Valley Forge.
The Highlanders will rematch the Patriots on Saturday in a 7 & 9 inning doubleheader at Sanatoga Park at 12 & 2 p.m. EDT.
