LANCASTER, PA – Cairn Baseball traveled out to Penn Medicine Park to face the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats of the Centennial Conference. The Highlanders tried to pull another late comeback as they faced a large deficit late, coming up just short in a high scoring 14-13 defeat.
 
Franklin & Marshall (10-8 / CENTENNIAL) put up a five spot in the second inning on six hits to give the Diplomats an advantage early. Sophomore designated hitter Andrew Holt (Sunrise, FL / New College of Florida) led off the next half with a double, moving over on freshman left fielder Josh Smeltzer, Jr.'s (Reading, PA / Muhlenberg) sacrifice bunt and scoring as senior right fielder Dylan Jackson (Levittown, PA / Chestnut Hill College) put the ball in play to the right side.
 
The Diplomats continued to add on with four runs in the fourth with a pair of doubles, making the lead 9-1. Freshman second baseman Gustavo Villegas (Plantation, FL / Plantation) walked to lead off the fifth and scored as senior first baseman Tyler Warr (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) recorded his 200^th career hit, the second player in program history to reach that mark (Caleb Lang '16). Junior backstop Zach Bauer (Cooper City, FL / Cooper City) drove in a pair with a double to left center as the lead was now 9-4. Franklin & Marshall matched in the bottom half with an RBI single and home run to equalize the Highlander runs with the score 12-4.
 
With a quiet sixth inning, Cairn (8-5 / UNITED EAST) jumped back on offense and put up a pair of runs in the seventh as junior third baseman Ben Gagnon (Bethlehem, PA / Northampton CC) and sophomore shortstop Nathan Schurga (Wilmington, DE / Conrad Schools of Science) each picked up an RBI. The Diplomats matched in the bottom half, now 14-6 headed to the eighth.
 
The Highlanders went for three runs in the eighth, with a double from Bauers and RBI single for Warr, and four in the ninth, as Jackson homered for three of those runs, cutting the lead to just one as the tying run would be stopped at first base and the Diplomats came out on top, 14-13.
 
Warr went 4-6 on the afternoon with a double and pair of RBI, including his 200^th hit, while Bauers went 3-5 with two doubles for 4 RBI. Jackson was almost the hero with a three-run home run going 2-6 on the day with 4 RBI.
 
On defense, Bauers would throw out his 50^th career base-stealer in the second inning, passing Head Coach Brett Marks '20 on the career caught stealing leaderboard, who set the career record in 2019 with 49 runners thrown out.
 
The Highlanders will be back in action at home on Thursday, facing Penn St. Brandywine in non-conference action at 3:30 p.m.