LANGHORNE, PA – Baseball hosted Neumann University to open up the final week of the regular season on Tuesday, defeating the Knights 16-6 after seven innings.
 
Neumann (23-9 / 9-3 ATLANTIC EAST) got started with a run in the top of the first after a Highlander error as the Highlanders would take the lead back in the bottom half, 2-1, with a leadoff hit by pitch for senior right fielder Dylan Jackson (Levittown, PA / Chestnut Hill College), coming around to score, and executing a first and third situation to get the second run across.
 
The Knights opened up the second frame with a pair of runs on four hits with Cairn (24-14) matching with three two-out singles, 4-4. Neumann homered in the third to go back ahead, scoring a sixth run on an RBI single. Junior catcher Zach Bauers (Cooper City, FL / Cooper City) and sophomore designated hitter Andrew Holt (Sunrise, FL / New College of Florida) walked to open the bottom of the third, both scoring as freshman second baseman Gustavo Villegas (Plantation, FL / Planation) put the ball in play to the right side.
 
After holding Neumann to a scoreless fourth, the Highlanders took the lead as Holt singled to score senior centerfielder Will Wikner (Gaithersburg, MD / Shenandoah University). Cairn brought six into score in the fifth, almost doubling the lead on four hits in the frame before Jackson walked it off in the seventh with a long single to right field to hit the mercy rule.
 
Jackson had three hits, his fourth three-hit game in 7 days, with as many RBI and two runs scored. Wikner, Holt, and senior first baseman Tyler Warr (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) all had two hits, Warr with 2 RBI and Holt with three.
 
Freshman lefty Josh Smeltzer, Jr. (Reading, PA / Muhlenberg HS) got the win (1-0) as he and senior reliever Connor Ferguson (Laguna Niguel, CA / Capistrano Valley Christian School) threw two scoreless in relief, the former with two strikeouts.
 
Cairn will host Moravian on Wednesday to close out the regular season at 3:30 pm.