LANGHORNE, PA – The Cairn Baseball team hosted the Penn State - Abington Nittany Lions of the United East Volt Division on Wednesday, taking game one by a narrow margin of 5-4 and locking it down on defense with a 1-0 no-hitter in game two.

GAME ONE
Penn State – Abington (11-20 / 8-4 UNITED EAST VOLT DIVISION) got things started in the second inning with a lead-off walk and two-run home run to put the Nittany Lions ahead 2-0. Cairn (19-13 / 11-4 UNITED EAST SKYE DIVISION) answered right back in the second as fifth year second baseman Joe Greenwood (Wall, NJ / Calvary Academy) worked a one-out walk, stealing second base and moving up on an errant throw. Classmate Sam Spadea (Yadley, PA / Pennsbury) got a ball into centerfield for a sacrifice fly. Junior outfielder Will Wikner (Gaithersburg, MD / Shenandoah University) walked before freshman shortstop Nathan Schurga (Wilmington, DE / Conrad Schools of Science) homered to right to give the Highlanders a 3-2 lead.

In the third, the Highlanders added another as sophomore catcher Zach Bauers (Cooper City, FL / Cooper City) and Greenwood led off with singles, Wikner singling as well to score Bauers, Cairn up 4-2. The Nittany Lions threatened in the fifth, scoring on a pair of hits to cut the lead to one. Cairn added another in the bottom half as Greenwood walked and stole two bases for Wikner to drive him in on a single. Two singles and a hit by pitch put Penn State – Abington in position to win the game before sophomore righty Greg Jessup (Tyler, TX / McKinney Christian) slammed the door, picking up his second save of the year in the 5-4 win.

Junior lefty Joe Battaglia (Franklin, TN / Brentwood Academy) threw 6.1 innings for the win, his fifth of the year, striking out six. Wikner had two hits on the game with as many RBI. Schurga went 1-3 with a homerun and 2 RBI.

GAME TWO
Freshman centerfielder Zachary Johnson (Hawaii Kai, HI / TCS Post Grad) led off with a double and stole third before junior right fielder Dylan Jackson (Levittown, PA / Chestnut Hill College) put the ball on the ground to the right side to score him.

The rest of the game was a show for junior righty Ronaldinho Alcin (Miami, FL / North Miami Beach SHS) who threw 7 innings of no-hit baseball, striking out 11 with no runs. Alcin's no-hitter is the first seven inning no-no since former pitcher Joey Nieves-Markee ('16) pitched a 14-1 no-hitter against Valley Forge on April 9, 2013, although former pitchers Eric Stinglen ('20) and Matthew Myers ('20) combined for a 5 inning darkness-shortened 13-0 no-hitter on March 2, 2017 against Valley Forge.

Wikner, Bauers, & Johnson each recorded hits in the 1-0 shutout.

The Highlanders look forward to their weekend series with Clarks Summit, on the road Friday afternoon in northeast Pennsylvania before hosting the Defenders on Saturday for Senior Day.