Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina continues a four-game homestand this weekend, hosting the St. John's Red Storm out of the Big East Conference for a three-game series at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium. The trio of games includes 5 p.m. starts both Friday and Saturday with a Noon first pitch in Sunday's finale.
 
Friday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats through CatamountSports.com available for each game.
 
The Catamounts (8-4) enter Friday's opener riding a three-game winning streak that includes taking the final two games at Conference USA foe Charlotte last weekend and outlasting Kennesaw State out of the ASUN Conference by a count of 12-11 on Wednesday night at home. St. John's is unbeaten in seven games this year playing each of its first seasonal games at home in Queens, N.Y. The Red Storm swept Sacred Heart most recently, winning the four-game set by an average of 9.5 runs per outing.
 
WCU is batting .288 collectively as a team coming into the three-game series, third-best in the Southern Conference while boasting a league-best .430 on-base percentage. The Catamount offense will be tested against a St. John's pitching staff which ranks second nationally with a team 1.03 ERA, surrendering just seven earned runs over their first seven games.
 
The Catamounts will employ the same weekend rotation as the last two nonconference road weekend with sophomore RHP Zebby Matthews (2-1) opening the series on Friday followed by freshman RHP Gavin Mortenson (1-0) on Saturday and redshirt junior RHP Ryan Mitschele (1-1) in Sunday's finale. Matthews looks to rebound after suffering his first defeat of the season last Friday at Charlotte, while Mortenson struck out five in picking up his first career victory on Saturday and Mitschele earning the win in a season-long 7.0-innings outing in the series finale.
 
St. John's (7-0) is off to the perfect start for a third time over the past five years, winning nine-straight in 2017 and eight-straight to open 2018. Last season before the COVID shutdown, the Johnnies were 5-9 at the stoppage. The Red Storm is batting .322 collectively as a team with 19 doubles, four triples, and eight home runs. Six individuals are batting above the .300 threshold with two – David Williams and Brandon Miller – batting .400 on the season. Ryan Hogan earned Big East Player of the Week plaudits while Friday's left-handed starter Nick Mondak was listed in the conference's weekly honor roll.
 
Western Carolina trails St. John's in the all-time head-to-head series, 4-5, with the most recent meetings coming back in the 2019 season as the two split the only two games played due to weather. The Red Storm took the first game, 5-2, with the Catamounts claiming the backend of the twin-bill 13-4. The two teams first met in the 1985 NCAA East Regional, a 9-6 Catamount victory. St. John's has won four of the five meetings against WCU head coach Bobby Moranda, meeting five times since 2016.
 
Projected Pitching Match-Ups:
Friday: WCU – So. RHP Zebby Matthews (2-1, 2.50) vs. STJ – R-Jr. LHP Nick Mondak (2-0, 0.00)
Saturday: WCU – Fr. RHP Gavin Mortenson (1-0, 6.08) vs. STJ – R-So. RHP Ian Murphy (2-0, 0.00)
Sunday: WCU R-Jr. RHP Ryan Mitschele (1-1, 3.94) vs. STJ – R-So. Brian Hendry (1-0, 0.93)
 
Additional Catamount Baseball Diamond Notes:

• Four Catamounts have reached base safely in all 12 games this season … Junior OF Justice Bigbie has a team-best streak of 21-straight games safely reaching that includes the 12 games in 2021 and the final nine-straight in the spring of 2020 … Middle infielder Daniel Walsh has reached in 13-straight games including the final game played last spring and the first 12 this season, while freshman Pascanel Ferreras is joined by junior Daylan Nanny with 12-straight games reached in 2021;
• Daniel Walsh currently ranks second in the SoCon in batting with a .419 average (18-of-43) through 12 games and ranks tied for second in the league in on-base percentage (.536) ... Walsh is riding a team-best seven-game hitting streak … Luke Robinson is fourth at .383 with Justice Bigbie tied for ninth at .349 … Bigbie is third in the SoCon in RBI with 15, just ahead of Walsh with 14 and Robinson with 13 and Pascanel Ferreras with 12, seventh in the league;
• Western Carolina enters the weekend FIRST in the NCAA in being hit by pitch … WCU has a Southern Conference-leading 31 HBPs collectively this year;
• Western Carolina enters the weekend ranked 16th in the nation in scoring with a SoCon-best 102 runs scored … the Catamounts are tied for 28th overall with an average of 8.5 runs per game – 20th when removing teams that have played fewer than five games this season … St. John's enters the weekend tied for 18th nationally with an average of 9.0 runs per game;
• With 14 home runs as a team this spring, WCU ranks tied for 27th in the NCAA and second in the SoCon behind ETSU (15) … the Catamounts have home runs in seven of their 12 games this season with three multi-homer games … Four of WCU's 14 homers have been grand slams;
• The Catamount defense has turned 12 double plays this season, tied for the 10th-most in the NCAA this season … WCU's 1.0 double-plays turned per game average ranks tied for 21st nationally;
• WCU's pitchers have combined for the second-best team ERA in the SoCon early this season at 3.75, surrendering a league-low tying 40 earned runs … the Catamounts are fourth in strikeouts (99) but lead the league with 38 strikeouts looking.

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