Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball opens a four-game nonconference homestand on Wednesday afternoon, hosting the Kennesaw State Owls at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday's game, the frontend of a two-game home-and-home set is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).
 
Both teams carry 7-4 seasonal records into Wednesday's match-up. The Catamounts took 2-of-3 from Conference USA-member Charlotte last time out while Kennesaw State took 2-of-3 on the road at UAB in Birmingham, Ala. Though WCU had its midweek game at Wake Forest postponed last week, Kennesaw State edged fifth-ranked Georgia at home, 6-4, at Stillwell Stadium last Wednesday.
 
For the Catamounts, freshman Pascanel Ferreras homered twice and legged out a triple as a part of a 5-for-14 (.357) performance last week at Charlotte, driving in a team-best eight runs including five in the series-clinching finale. Carrying a team-best six-game hitting streak into the week, junior Daniel Walsh leads WCU with a .410 batting average that includes a pair of doubles and two home runs.
 
WCU is batting .284 collectively as a team, third-best in the Southern Conference while enjoying the second-best team ERA at 3.75 through 11 games.
 
Freshman RHP Dawson Elder is expected to make his third career start on Wednesday where he'll match-up with Kennesaw State freshman RHP Nathan Holler. Elder started once in the shortened 2020 season at home against Bryant and was the first pitcher on the mound against UNC Asheville in the midweek earlier this season. The Taylorsville, N.C., native has five career strikeouts, two coming this season.
 
Picked sixth in the nine-team ASUN Conference preseason coaches' poll, the Owls return 24 players from the 2020 squad including former ASUN Baseball Preseason Player of the Year in Terence Norman. The Kennesaw, Ga., native was selected preseason all-conference for 2021, joined by infielder Tyler Tolve who garnered the nod in the DH position from the ASUN coaches. Norman is batting .293 on the season with two home runs and eight RBI, while Tolve is batting .244 with nine runs driven in and a pair of extra-base hits including a triple and home run.
 
Kennesaw State posted a 10-8 record in the abbreviated 2020 season with 13 of their first 18 games played at home.
 
Western Carolina leads the all-time series with Kennesaw State, 12-8, but has dropped four-straight dating back to 2015. The Owls handed WCU a 12-0 setback last spring in neutral field action in Conway, S.C. The two teams are scheduled to conclude the home-and-home in Kennesaw, Ga., next Wednesday, March 17.
 
WCU continues the homestand by hosting the St. John's Red Storm (7-0) for a three-game nonconference series in Cullowhee beginning Friday at 5 pm. The Johnnies have won four of the five previous series meetings, splitting the two-games played in Cullowhee in 2019.
 
Projected Pitching Match-Up:
WCU – Fr. RHP #43 Dawson Elder vs. KNST – Fr. RHP #22 Nathan Holler (0-0, 2.89 ERA)
 
Additional Catamount Baseball Diamond Notes:

• Four Catamounts have reached base safely in all 11 games this season … Junior OF Justice Bigbie has a team-best streak of 20-straight games safely reaching that includes the 11 games in 2021 and the final nine-straight in the spring of 2020 … Middle infielder Daniel Walsh has reached in 12-straight games including the final game played last spring and the first 11 this season, while Pascanel Ferreras is joined by Daylan Nanny with 11-straight games reached in 2021;
• Daniel Walsh currently leads the SoCon in batting with a .410 average (16-of-39) through 11 games and ranks third in the league in on-base percentage (.529) … Luke Robinson is fourth at .372 with Justice Bigbie tied for sixth at .366 … Bigbie is tied for second in RBI with 15, just ahead of Walsh with 13 and Robinson with 12 and Pascanel Ferreras with 11 in a tie for sixth;
• Western Carolina entered the week ranked FIRST in the NCAA in being hit by pitch … WCU has a Southern Conference-leading 29 HBPs collectively this year;
• Western Carolina entered the week ranked 21st in the nation in scoring with a SoCon-best 90 runs scored … the Catamounts are 33rd overall with an average of 8.2 runs per game – 24th when removing teams that have played fewer than five games this season;
• With 14 home runs as a team this spring, WCU ranks tied for 24th in the NCAA and second in the SoCon behind ETSU (15) … the Catamounts have home runs in seven of their 11 games this season with three multi-homer games … Four of WCU's 14 homers have been grand slams;
• The Catamount defense has turned 11 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 18th 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;
• Eric Wallington leads the league with eight games in relief, just ahead of teammate Davis Tyndall who is tied for the second-most relief appearances with seven.