Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina concludes the home portion of its 2021 regular season by hosting Wofford at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium this weekend beginning with a single-game on Friday at 4 p.m. WCU will honor its 2021 seniors on Saturday before the first game of the doubleheader with the first pitch slated for 2 p.m.
 
With WCU's graduation on campus this weekend, the penultimate three-game series will be covered with both live stats and live streaming audio through the Catamount Sports Network online at CatamountSports.com. - LISTEN LIVE
 
Western Carolina (22-17, 10-9 SoCon) looks to halt its current slide, having dropped seven of its last eight games on the season. Meanwhile, Wofford (30-17, 17-7) has won six of its last seven games overall and has won six-straight SoCon series to sit percentage points outside of the divisional lead entering the final two weeks of the regular season.

The Race for Greenville, S.C.:

• Both divisional winners from the regular season qualify for the four-team SoCon Tournament at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. (May 27-30). Then, the two teams with the next two best records or winning percentage after that will also qualify, regardless of division. The seeds will be done 1-through-4 based on the best winning percentages among those four teams that qualify.
• Entering this weekend's series:
  • Blue Division Leader – Samford (17-7, .708) – vs. UNCG
  • Red Division Leader – Mercer (15-6, .714) – vs. The Citadel
  • Next Two In:
    • Wofford (17-7, .708) – at Western Carolina
    • Western Carolina (10-9, .526) – vs. Wofford
  • First Two Out:
    • ETSU (10-13, .435) – at VMI
    • UNCG (10-14, .417) – at Samford

• Wofford had its six-game winning streak snapped in the midweek in a three-run nonconference loss at Duke on Tuesday night;
• The Terriers have won five of their last six SoCon games including sweeping The Citadel at home last weekend and took 2-of-3 from Blue Division-leader, Samford, the weekend before … Wofford has only dropped one series this season, losing two at Mercer back in late March;
• The Terriers rank third in the SoCon with a collective team batting average of .286 … Wofford ranks just behind WCU in the league in on-base percentage (.399) and ranks third in scoring with 322 seasonal runs (6.9 runs per game);
• Wofford leads the SoCon in both sacrifice bunts (44) and stolen bases (117) – second in the NCAA and 57 more thefts than the second-place team in the league, UNCG (60) … Wofford has five players with double-digit stolen bases including Jack Renwick (25-of-29) who leads the SoCon and ranks tied for fifth nationally;
• Junior OF Nolen Hester leads the Terriers with a .373 seasonal batting average to rank inside the top 10 in the conference where he's joined by Colin Davis (.350) … Hester has 41 runs scored while Trey Yunger (.339 average) has scored 40 to rank second on the squad;

• Wofford took 2-of-3 from Western Carolina in the three-game set in Spartanburg earlier this season in early April;
• The Catamounts dropped a one-run game in the Friday single-game series opener, rallying from a 5-3 deficit with a two-run top of the eighth inning to tie the game … However, Wofford walked off the win in the bottom of the ninth, cashing in a lead-off HBP with a stolen base and back-to-back wild pitches to score the game-winning run;
• WCU split the Saturday doubleheader, dropping game one 12-9 before rallying late in the nightcap to win 11-6 … the Terriers scored in bunches in game one including a four-run fifth inning to take a lead they'd never relinquish, tacking on a five-run sixth and three insurance markers in the seventh inning … In the finale, WCU scored eight runs over the final two innings to rally past Wofford, 11-6 – the Catamounts trailed 5-1 after five but outscored Wofford 10-1 down the stretch to pick-up the victory.

• Western Carolina leads the all-time series with Wofford, 74-26, in a series that dates back to 1950 in the WCU record books;
• WCU has dropped eight of the last 10 series meetings dating back to 2017 … Before the current stretch, WCU won eight-straight from 2015-2017 … WCU won a series-long 23-straight over Wofford from 2002 through 2010;
• WCU leads in the series meetings played at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium, 44-11 … the Terriers claimed two of the three meetings over the Catamounts on the road back in 2019, the first series victory for Wofford over WCU in Cullowhee.

• Catamounts with Active Streaks:
  • Reached Base Safely: Daylan Nanny (39), Luke Robinson (23), Pascanel Ferreras (4), Daniel Walsh & Pascanel Ferreras (3)
  • Hitting Streaks: Daylan Nanny (3), Luke Robinson (3), Zach Ketterman (3)
• Western Carolina enters the weekend ranked 77th in the nation in RPI as of Thursday … Eight of WCU's previous seasonal opponents continue to rank inside the top 100 nationally in RPI: Tennessee (8), Charlotte (16), Mercer (54), Samford (66), Wake Forest (75), UNCG (79), UNCW (95) and Gardner-Webb (100) … Another seasonal opponent – this weekend's, in fact -- is just outside the top 100 in Wofford (102);
• The Catamounts enter the weekend ranked seventh in the country in scoring with a SoCon-best 8.2 runs per game average – 319 runs over 39 games played – though WCU has been held below its seasonal average in nine of its last 10 games (5.1 runs per game, 2-8 record) … WCU also leads the SoCon in team batting average (.300, 22nd in NCAA), on-base percentage (.415, 8th in NCAA);
• Six Catamount regulars enter the weekend batting over .300, led by Will Prater with a SoCon-leading .415 average (ninth-best in the NCAA): Justice Bigbie (.353), Luke Robinson (.327), Daylan Nanny (.327), Daniel Walsh (.321), and Pascanel Ferreras (.305);
• Junior Will Prater continues to pace the squad and the SoCon in seasonal batting average, ranking ninth nationally with a .415 average … Of his 51 seasonal hits, 46 have been singles as he has three doubles and two triples this season … Prater also leads WCU with a .481 (25-of-52) seasonal batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP);
• Junior Daylan Nanny continues to have reached base successfully in every game this season, a streak that has reached 39-consecutive games this season … Nanny's 39-game streak current ranks as the eighth longest in the NCAA this season – and is currently tied for the fourth-longest active streak entering the weekend … Matt McLain of UCLA and Campbell's Spencer Packard both had the longest streak this season at 46-consecutive including games from this season and last … Liam Spence of Tennessee boasts the longest active streak of 48-straight, 45 of which have come in the 2021 season;
• Junior Immanuel Wilder matched the WCU program record for being hit by a pitch in the series at ETSU … Wilder has been plunked 12 times this year to give him 44 career HBP's, tying former Catamount Barrett Shaft (44, 2005-08) … Luke Robinson has been hit 14 times this season giving him 41 career HBPs, fifth in WCU's record book;
• WCU ranks fifth in the SoCon with a collective team ERA of 5.54 while allowing the fewest hits this season (366) … the staff has 322 strikeouts on the season including 103 looking;
• Defensively, WCU has turned a SoCon-leading 32 double plays this season, 40th nationally with an average of 0.82 double-plays per game … Freshman Pascanel Ferreras has been a part of turning 27 double plays, the most among individuals in the SoCon … Ferreras was one of three SoCon players listed on the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List this season.

 
On Deck for Catamount Baseball:
Western Carolina concludes the 2021 regular season by traveling to Charleston, S.C., to face The Citadel at Riley Park. WCU won the series against the Bulldogs earlier this season, winning the only two games contested in late March, 12-8 and 11-6, in a doubleheader as the Saturday game was canceled due to inclement weather and field conditions.
 
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