Cullowhee, N.C. – Opening with 10 of its first 12 dates at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium, Western Carolina baseball's 56-game 2022 schedule includes a combined 30 home games and six meetings against three teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a season ago including College World Series participant, Tennessee, it was announced today by head coach Bobby Moranda.
 
The Volunteers are one of four Power Five conference opponents for the Catamounts in 2022, two of which will be played on a neutral field at the First Pitch Classic at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, S.C., when WCU faces Kansas (March 11), the early-season tournament host, Michigan State (March 12), and American Athletic conference foe Cincinnati (March 13). The Catamounts also visit Wake Forest (March 15) out of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
 
Western Carolina's 2022 season culminates with the annual Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases May 24-29, 2022, again scheduled for Fluor Field.
 
Season tickets for WCU's 2022 home schedule are on sale now through the Catamount Athletic Ticket office, located on the first floor of the Ramsey Center, by phone at (828) 227-2401, or online at CatamountSports.com. Packages include general admission tickets for the upper grandstand bleacher areas, or reserved chairback seating options located along the field level or directly behind home plate in the upper, covered seating areas.
 
Single-game ticket sales for individual home games at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium begin on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022.
 
"I'm very excited about our 2022 season schedule. Overall, I think the schedule is great, challenging our team against many quality programs representing some good baseball conferences," said Moranda. "Coach Jeff Lavin did an excellent job in taking the lead in assembling this schedule, putting in a lot of hard work in bringing these games to the table for us this year."
 
Moranda continued, "Our schedule represents the tradition of Catamount baseball. We play a rigorous schedule against solid opponents out of conference to test our team before entering an always tough Southern Conference slate. We've scheduled 30 home dates this year, opening the season with the first three weeks in Cullowhee. I like the nonconference tournament-like feel we'll have with five neutral field games including three at Fluor Field, the site of our conference tournament. I also think that our conference schedule is excellent with some good home series that our fanbase will enjoy."
 
Western Carolina's 2022 baseball schedule features 25 different opponents representing 14 different conferences including the SoCon. The Catamounts face four, first-time opponents in four, three-game series with three coming in Cullowhee against Illinois State (Feb. 25-27), Stony Brook (March 4-6), and UT-Martin (March 18-20). WCU travels to Houston, Texas, March 25-27 for a three-game series against the Houston Cougars out of the American Conference.
 
WCU also has a trio of home-and-home, midweek matchups against Big South Conference opponents including USC Upstate (A, Feb. 23; H, May 4), mountain-rival UNC Asheville (H, March 22; A, April 12), and Presbyterian (A, March 9; H, April 27). The Catamounts also have three midweek nonconference games against Gardner-Webb including two at home – April 6 and 19 – and one in Boiling Springs on May 17, and travel to ASUN-member, Kennesaw State (May 11) for a nonconference meeting.
 
Opening weekend for the 2022 season is Feb. 18-20 as the Catamounts host the Niagara Purple Eagles for four games in Cullowhee including a double-header on Opening Day, Friday, Feb. 18. After a midweek road trip to USC Upstate on Feb. 23, the Catamounts host Illinois State in the first-ever meetings on the diamond between the Catamounts and Redbirds out of the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
WCU's first of five neutral field games is slated for Wednesday, March 2 as the Catamounts travel to AT&T Field in Chattanooga, Tenn., home of the Chattanooga Lookouts, to face the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State. It's the first meeting between the two schools since 1989. The three-game tournament at Fluor Field is set for the third week of March, and WCU has a three-game series against Xavier  (April 1-3) split between two venues – a neutral field meeting at PRASCO Park in Mason, Ohio, and a pair of true road games at the Musketeers' Hayden Field in Cincinnati.
 
After competing in divisional play a season ago where the three-game league series was contested over two-day windows, the Southern Conference returns to its previous format in 2022. Every team will match-up either home or away this spring with a three-day window allotted for the three-game set.
 
Western Carolina plays its first two SoCon series within the friendly confines of Childress Field / Hennon Stadium, entertaining mountain rival ETSU (April 8-10) and defending tournament champion Samford (April 14-16). Additional home conference series include Mercer (May 6-8) and in-state foe UNCG (May 19-21) to conclude the regular season.

Two of WCU's three league road series will be played in the Palmetto State as the Catamounts visit The Citadel at Charleston's Riley Park April 22-24 and visit Wofford in Spartanburg, S.C., May 13-15. The Catamounts also travel north to Lexington, Va., for a three-game series against VMI April 29 through May 1.

"We had a very good fall practice season and I like where we are as a program," said Moranda after his team played against a pair of Power Five conference opponents Louisville – a 2019 College World Series participant – and Georgia during the fall. "We've got a real good chance at being a very good baseball team this spring. Our strength should lie within the depth of our pitching staff from the starters through the bullpen. Offensively, we may look a little different, but I feel we have a good chance at continuing our trend of scoring runs."
 
Many of Western Carolina's 2022 baseball games – both home and away – will be broadcast online through the ESPN network with select games to have Catamount Sports Network audio coverage online. A full broadcast schedule will be published in late January. Live stats coverage of every home game in Cullowhee will be made available on a schedule link through CatamountSports.com.
 
Moranda, who is entering his 15th season in Cullowhee, is slated to return eight seniors – five position players and three pitchers – for the 2022 season. Back are four starters and four pitchers who made eight-or-more starts a season ago from a team that finished 28-21 overall and advanced to the title game of the 2021 SoCon Championship. Headlining WCU's returners are redshirt junior RHP Zebby Matthews (6-2), who earned All-SoCon plaudits by striking out 60 over 61.1 innings before being sidelined with injury, and two-time Freshman All-America and All-SoCon selection in sophomore infielder Pascanel Ferreras, who led WCU with 16 home runs and 56 RBI.
 
Among WCU's 11 returning position letter winners are all-conference selection, senior infielder Will Prater, who batted .395 as the designated hitter, and CoSIDA Academic All-District 3 selection, senior infielder Daniel Walsh who posted a .304 average with 13 extra-base hits and 37 RBI. On the mound, WCU has 14 combined pitchers who made multiple appearances a season ago with top prospects Zach Franklin (7-4, 2 saves) and Davis Tyndall returning in the bullpen.

Individual workout sessions are slated to resume as soon as the players return to campus for the spring semester in early January with classes beginning on Jan. 10, 2022. Team practice for the Catamounts begins on Friday, Jan. 28, 2022.
 
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