LANGHORNE, PA – Cairn Baseball trampled Penn St. Schuylkill in a high-scoring 23-8 game on Wednesday for their third-straight win.
 
Junior catcher Zach Bauers (Cooper City, FL / Cooper City) helped the Highlanders jump on Penn St. Schuylkill (10-10 / PSUAC) early as he scored senior right fielder Dylan Jackson (Levittown, PA / Chestnut Hill College) on a ball to the right side in the first. Freshmen Josh Smeltzer, Jr. (Reading, PA / Muhlenberg) and Gustavo Villegas (Plantation, FL / Plantation) were both hit by a pitch to begin the second as Jackson homered to put Cairn (10-5 / UNITED EAST) up 4-1.
 
The Nittany Lions put up a fight in the third, scoring two runs on a pair of hits and errors to cut the lead in half, but was no match for the six runs Cairn added in the bottom half. Jackson would score Villegas again with a double as senior first baseman Tyler Warr (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) scored him and classmate Will Wikner (Gaithersburg, MD / Shenandoah University) with a single up the middle. Junior third baseman Ben Gagnon (Bethlehem, PA / Northampton CC) then tripled to left, scoring three and putting the Highlanders ahead 10-2.
 
After a quiet fourth, Penn St. Schuylkill added another on a double and wild pitch. Warr homered to lead off the bottom half as Gagnon added another hit with an RBI. Sophomore second baseman Jay Sariano (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) singled through the left side for 2 runs as the Highlanders batted around and added seven more runs to the lead, now ahead, 17-3.
 
Schuylkill won the sixth inning with the only score in the frame and another in the seventh as another big inning for Cairn came up. With a pair of batters hit by a pitch and a balk, six more runs came across home plate as the Highlanders would go scoreless in the eighth and the Nittany Lions scored their sixth run in the eighth with two more in the ninth. 
 
Jackson finished with a game-high four hits, going 4-5 with four RBI and a triple shy of the cycle. Warr, Bauers, and Gagnon each had two hits in the game with sophomore catcher Daniel Tapp (Baltimore, MD / Boys Latin School of MD), junior infielder Dom Carafa (Broomall, PA / Lackawanna CC), Smeltzer, Jr., and Sariano rounding out the 14 Highlander hits on the afternoon.
 
Senior lefty Brett Bottinger (Plymouth Meeting, PA / Chestnut Hill College) got the win (3-0) as the Highlanders pitched by committee, as senior righty Ronaldinho Alcin (Miami, FL / North Miami Beach), junior reliever Nick Benson (Philadelphia, PA / Father Judge), and junior reliever Gavin Switzer (Millersville, PA / Penn Manor) recorded no earned runs in their outings.
 
Cairn will host Delaware Valley University on Wednesday for a United East/MAC crossover at 3 p.m.