Cullowhee, N.C. – Longtime mountain rivals Western Carolina and Appalachian State meet Wednesday afternoon on the baseball diamond as the Catamounts host the Mountaineers in midweek nonconference action at 4 pm at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
Wednesday's game is slated to be broadcast on
ESPN+ (subscription required) with
Daniel Hooker (pxp) and Gary Ayers (color) on the call. Fans can also follow the game with
live stats through CatamountSports.com and updates through social media using the handle, @Catamounts.
Western Carolina leads the all-time series with App State, 95-63-1 – numbers bolstered by the nearly 40-year shared league affiliation in the Southern Conference. The Mountaineers have won the last five series meetings dating back to 2015 when the teams split the nonconference home-and-home.
The Catamounts return to action after taking 2-of-3 at the 2020 First Pitch Invitational, hosted by Michigan State at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. WCU downed Mid-American Conference (MAC) foe, Ball State, 6-3 on Friday before suffering a one-run loss to Big Ten opponent, Michigan State, on Saturday evening. The Catamounts claimed their second Power Five conference win on Sunday, downing Kansas out of the Big XII, 5-3, on Sunday afternoon.
Appalachian State (4-6) rebounded from a 1-5 start by winning three of its last four games including upsetting No. 24 Wake Forest back on Feb. 26 in midweek action, parlaying that into taking 2-of-3 from fellow SoCon-foe, UNCG, last weekend with the lone loss coming by a run in 15 innings in Sunday's final game. Three of App's early season losses came at the hands of SEC-foe, Kentucky. That series also included a 15-inning defeat in the finale.
Two Mountaineers – sophomore second baseman Luke Drumheller and senior reliever Andrew Papp – were named preseason All-Sun Belt Conference. App State was picked fifth in the league's East Division, the same place it finished in 2019, just ahead of Georgia State which downed WCU in extra innings last week. All told, Appalachian returns three, .300 hitters from last year's squad with Drumheller, Tyler Leek, and Kendall McGowan, with two of its top arms back in the fold in Papp and Tyler Tuthill who won six games last season.
App State is projected to start Cullowhee, N.C., native and Smoky Mountain High graduate Cole Hooper on the mound Wednesday. The left-handed sophomore transferred to App following the 2018 season at NC State, sitting out the 2019 season. Currently not officially showing in Hooper's stats are his numbers from his first career start against North Carolina A&T, a game that was halted in the ninth inning – Hooper allowed just one run on four hits over six innings against the Aggies. He also earned the starting nod against Wake Forest, tossing 3.2 innings.
WCU's starter
Corey Bright is slated to make his second start among his first four collegiate outings, having posted a 2.00 ERA over 9.0 innings of work with seven strikeouts against five walks.
Catamount Game Notes:
- Junior transfer Daniel Walsh leads WCU and ranks fourth in seasonal batting average at .486 entering the week … His .596 on-base percentage is first on the squad and third in the SoCon … Junior Will Prater is tied for the conference lead with two triples thus far this season;
- Sophomore transfer RHP Zebby Matthews picked up his third victory of the season in his third start in last Friday's win over Ball State … His 22 strikeouts rank him tied for seventh in the league including the third-most strikeouts looking (9) … Redshirt sophomore reliever Zach Franklin is tied for the SoCon-lead with two saves early this season … Franklin has four games finished to date, tied for third in the SoCon;
- Junior Immanuel Wilder has been hit by a SoCon-leading 11 pitches this season, second in the NCAA behind Elijah Cabell (13 HBPs in 11 games) … Wilder also ranks second in the nation in hit by pitches per game, averaging 1.00 HBP per outing … WCU's single-season individual record is 25 set by Cameron Dullnig back in 2010;
- Collectively as a team, WCU has been plunked a SoCon-leading 24 times (Mercer is second with 23) … the Catamounts rank 13th nationally with the 24 HBPs;
- Offensively, WCU ranks seventh in the SoCon with a .273 batting average while ranking sixth overall in both hits (102) and runs scored (67) … the Catamounts have four triples, third overall in the league, but have only hit three home runs – ninth out of nine teams in the SoCon to date;
- WCU's pitching staff ranks sixth in the SoCon with 98 strikeouts on the season – but of those 98, 33 have been looking, the third-most in the league to date;
- In the field, the Catamounts have turned a SoCon-leading 11 double-plays so far this season, tied for 13th in the NCAA national rankings … Daniel Walsh is tied for first in the SoCon as a part of turning nine double plays this season;
Inside the Numbers:
- WCU is currently 7-2 in day games and 0-2 in night games;
- The Catamounts are 4-0 when scoring in the first inning – but are just 4-4 when allowing first-inning runs … In fact, WCU has been outscored 16-to-10 in the first inning this year;
- Western Carolina has outscored its opponents collectively in five of the nine innings of regulation including a 17-to-8 edge in the third inning and a 3-0 scoring margin in the ninth;
- WCU has reached double-digit hits in SIX of its first 11 games, twice scoring double-digit runs.
Going Streaking – Active Hitting Streaks:
*Snap* - Get on Base – Reached Safely Streaks:
Western Carolina (7-4 overall, 4-1 at home) vs. Appalachian State (4-6 overall 4-6 on the road)
When: Wednesday, March 4 | 4:00 pm
Where: Childress Field / Hennon Stadium | Cullowhee
Coverage: ESPN+ |
Live Stats
Pitching Match-Up:
WCU – Fr. RHP
Corey Bright (0-0, 2.00 ERA) vs. APP – So. LHP Cole Hooper (0-0, 9.82 ERA)
