LANGHORNE, PA – The Cairn University Baseball team completed the three game sweep of Clarks Summit University over the weekend, securing a berth in the postseason and breaking records along the way.
GAME ONE (AT CLARKS SUMMIT)
Game one saw an offensive onslaught by the Highlanders, led off by three straight walks to open the game and sophomore catcher
Zach Bauers (Cooper City, FL / Cooper City) working a fourth to bring in Cairn's (22-13 / 14-4 UNITED EAST SKYE DIVISION) first run. Fifth year second baseman
Joe Greenwood (Wall, NJ / Calvary Academy) reached on a fielder's choice to score junior right fielder
Dylan Jackson (Levittown, PA / Chestnut Hill College). Fifth year third baseman
Sam Spadea (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) singled to clear the bases. Junior left fielder
Will Wikner (Gaithersburg, MD / Shenandoah University) homered to score Spadea and provide the Highlanders with a 6-0 lead after the first.
Cairn added four more in the second with Jackson walking and junior first baseman
Tyler Warr (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) singling to put runners on the corners. Bauers got the ball deep enough for a sacrifice fly as Greenwood followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position. Spadea hit a three-run home run to put Cairn up 10-0. Jackson and Warr homered back-to-back in the third before Wikner hit his second of the game with a 15-0 lead facing the Defenders of Clarks Summit University (4-29 / 2-13 UNITED EAST SKYE DIVISION).
The Defenders got on the scoreboard in the fourth on two hits and an error before a run was taken right back in the fifth as fifth year designated hitter
Tyler Fox (Boyertown, PA / West-Mont Christian Academy) doubled in a run. Warr homered in the sixth for the Highlanders' seventh home run of the game, a new program record (previously 6 against Clarks Summit on April 22, 2023).
Warr had four hits in the game with a pair of RBI and four runs scored. Spadea and Wikner each recorded three hits, Spadea with a game-high 5 RBI. Jackson had two hits, 3 RBI, and 4 runs scored. As for the home run hitting, Warr, Wikner, and Jackson each had a pair of home runs with one by Spadea.
Freshman righty
Mikey Gutierrez (Cooper City, FL / St. Thomas Aquinas) picked up his conference-leading sixth win of the year, tying former Highlander pitcher
Cam Culver's ('23) single season record of six wins.
GAME TWO
Back in Langhorne for the doubleheader of the series, Clarks Summit played the Highlanders close, leading off the game with a double and taking their first lead of the series on an RBI triple. Cairn tied the game in the
bottom half as Jackson & Bauers singled and Greenwood doubled, scoring a run. In the second, freshman shortstop
Nathan Schurga (Wilmington, DE / Conrad Schools of Science) singled through the left side and stole second. Jackson was hit by a pitch with Warr working a bases loaded walk to score Schurga and take the lead back.
Greenwood led off the third, singling up the middle followed by Spadea with a single to put two runners on base. Wikner moved them over with a sacrifice bunt and Schurga scored Greenwood on a ground ball to the right side. Senior right-handed pitcher
Eli Schooley (Horseheads, NY / Horseheads) made the most of his senior day at bat, recording his first collegiate RBI and double as he drove in Spadea to make it 4-1. The Highlanders added another in the fourth as Cairn took game two, 5-1.
Schooley (4-2) got the senior day win, pitching 5.1 innings and striking out four. Jackson, Warr, Bauers, Greenwood and Schurga each had two hits in the game.
GAME THREE
The Highlander bats got hot again in the final game of the series with Warr scoring Greenwood, who reached on a walk, with a single before Bauers hustled around the bases for his first triple of the season, scoring Warr. Jackson singled up the middle for Bauers to make the short walk home, Cairn ahead 3-0 after one.
Cairn added a six spot in the second, Schurga leading off the frame with a walk and being scored by fifth year pitcher
Harrison Green (Jackson, MS / Park Place Christian Academy) who singled through the left side. Warr put the ball in play, forcing the Defenders to throw the ball away for a two-run error. Bauers doubled, scoring Warr before he was scored by Jackson who homered for his third bomb in as many games.
In the fifth, Fox beat out an infield single with two outs to keep the inning alive, leading to Greenwood singling and Spadea walking to load the bases. Warr tripled to the right-center gap, clearing the bases to go ahead 12-0. The Defenders got their only run of the game in the seventh via three hits and an error.
Warr, Bauers, and Jackson had two hits apiece in game three, Warr with 5 RBI. Complete games seem to be contagious amongst the Highlander pitching staff as Green went the distance for a 7-inning complete game, allowing a single unearned run.
NOTABLES
- In the series, Warr collected 8 hits, 8 RBI and two home runs, improving his batting average 28 points to .444 since the start of the three game set.
- Jackson had six hits, three home runs, and six RBI in three games.
- Spadea totaled four hits, five RBI and a home run on the weekend.
- Bauers extended his reached base streak to 38 games, spanning back to the 2023 season.
- Two pitchers collected hits in the series, including an RBI double for Schooley
- The Highlanders set the single-season conference win record at 14 games, surpassing 2023's record of 12 by two games.
Saturday was also senior day for Cairn Baseball as seniors, Fox, Greenwood, Schooley, Spadea, and Green were recognized between games two and three.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
With their win on Friday, Cairn Baseball clinched their fifth-straight conference postseason appearance and will await the results of next weekend's conference matchups, as the Highlanders have a bye, for final seeding. In the meantime, Gwynedd Mercy comes to the Stillman Complex on Tuesday before the Highlanders hit the road to Division I Lehigh University on Wednesday and play Lancaster Bible College at Trenton Thunder Ballpark on Friday night.
