LA PLUME, Pa. - The top seeds prevailed as the 2025 United East Baseball Championship kicked off its double-elimination portion of its tournament Friday evening. Keystone College took down Cairn University, 6-2 in the first game with Penn State Harrisburg upending St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 11-2, in game two.
The Highlanders and Seahawks will square off in game three tomorrow at 10 AM back at Bruggersworth Field on the campus of Wilkes University. Harrisburg and Keystone will battle at 11:30 AM on the campus of Keystone College. Game five will commence at 3 PM. Find the full Championship schedule here: BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE
No. 1 Keystone def. No. 5 Cairn University, 6-2 (BOX SCORE)
Scoring began in the second frame as Keystone tallied three in the bottom of the inning. Darren Hagen and Cooper Fesh each registered an RBI single while Hunter Rauch bunted in a third run. One inning later, Hagen drove in another run as he reached on a fielder’s choice. Up 4-0, the scoring halted until the sixth where the Giants were able to tack on one more courtesy of an RBI single by Robert Estrada.
Cairn broke up the shutout courtesy of a Will Wikner RBI single in the eighth, but Keystone answered back with another single-run inning in the bottom of the stanza. The Highlanders added one run in the top of the ninth but the comeback bid was nullified.
Sean Brennan nearly earned a complete game win, going 8.2 innings while just allowing five total hits. Brandon Valles came in to close out the contest.
No. 2 Penn State Harrisburg def. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, (BOX SCORE)
The Lions opened up scoring in the bottom of the third thanks to a throwing error. Scoring restarted in the sixth as the Lions plated three more and they’d follow that with a five-run seventh inning. Two more Harrisburg runs crossed in the eighth before St. Mary’s College broke up the shutout with a pair in the ninth.
Eight different Lion hitters registered a hit, including a solid 2-for-3 outing from Matthew Johansen in which he also drove in two runs. Coy Shwanger also posted a good performance, stacking three RBI and sac fly.
Fisher Druck improved to 6-1 on the season as he scattered five hits and punched out eight through 5.1 innings of work.
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The United East boasts 17 NCAA Division III full member institutions which include: Bryn Athyn College, Cairn University, Cedar Crest College, Gallaudet University, Keystone College, Lancaster Bible College, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Penn College, Penn State Abington, Penn State Berks, Penn State Brandywine, Penn State Harrisburg, Rosemont College, Saint Elizabeth University, St. Mary's College of Maryland, University of Valley Forge, and Wilson College. For more information, please visit gounitedeast.com.