Greenville, S.C. – Western Carolina rallied from a three-run deficit, scoring six unanswered runs on Friday evening to upend the Kansas Jayhawks, 6-3, in its opener at the First Pitch Invitational at Fluor Field. The Catamounts trailed 3-0 after three innings but outscored the Jayhawks to remain perfect in two all-time series meetings against the Big 12 Conference member.
Sophomore
Pascanel Ferreras paced the Catamounts at the plate with a 3-for-5 outing including a triple and scored the game-tying run. Classmate
Drew Needham belted his team-leading fifth home run of the season in a 2-for-5 effort. Combined, WCU's 10 base hits were spread between seven batters including freshman
Cameron Murray who reached twice with an HBP and his first collegiate base hit. Senior
Bryson Parks delivered a two-RBI single in the winning effort.
Kansas (6-7) scored all of its runs in the third inning coming on an RBI double by Tavian Josenberger and a two-run homer by Maui Ahuna, who finished 3-for-4 on the day with the two RBI.
WCU started its march back a half an inning after the Jayhawk three-run third, plating a pair of runs in the fourth on Needham's one-out home run to left-center field in the top of the fourth. In the sixth, Ferreras tripled to start the inning with Prater bringing him home with the game-tying run.
In the decisive eighth inning, the Catamounts loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a two-out HBP by freshman
Cameron Murray. A fourth freebie in the frame – a run-scoring walk by
Zach Ketterman brought home
Jordan Starkes with the eventual game-winning run. Parks then laced a two-run single up the middle to provide insurance and the final tally.
Catamount starter
Zebby Matthews struck out seven over 6.0 innings, scattering five hits and limited Kansas to three runs in the third inning. The Cullowhee, N.C., native retired eight-straight between the third and sixth innings, stranding the go-ahead runner at third base in the sixth with his final strikeout of the day. Redshirt senior
Zach Franklin (1-0) scored the victory out of the bullpen, scattering three hits over three scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
Kansas reliever Daniel Hegarty (2-1) took the loss after surrendering three runs on three hits in an inning of work. Starter Cole Larsen struck out seven over 6.2 innings of work for the Jayhawks in factoring in the no-decision.
Western Carolina (7-7) returns to action on Saturday afternoon against tournament-host Michigan State (6-6) which rallied to score a walk-off victory over Cincinnati in its first game at Fluor Field on Friday afternoon. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be streamed through the Greenville Drive's YouTube page with live stats available through a link at CatamountSports.com.
NOTE: Be sure to keep track of any weather-related schedule changes online at CatamountSports.com or through WCU Athletics' social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports) and Twitter (@Catamounts or @CatamountBSB).
