Clinton, S.C. – Western Carolina got on the board in the top of the first inning and never trailed, scoring multiple runs in four innings including a combined nine over the final two frames to earn a midweek nonconference road victory over the Presbyterian Blue Hose 15-2 on Wednesday evening at the PC Baseball Complex.
Sophomore
Zach Ketterman led four Catamounts with multi-hit games in a 3-for-6 effort with a double three runs scored and one driven in. Senior
Will Prater reached base five times in the win, finishing 2-for-3 with three RBI including two on a triple while also walking three times. Sophomore
Pascanel Ferreras (2-for-5) and senior
Seth Graves (2-for-4) both collected two hits apiece and combined for five runs scored.
Sophomore slugger
Drew Needham collected his team-leading fourth home run of the season with a two-run shot in WCU's three-run fifth inning.
Tom Brosnahan doubled for Catamounts in a 1-for-2 effort, giving WCU a fourth extra-base hit.
Prater singled to left field to plate
Bryson Parks in the top of the first inning to open the game's scoring and gave the Catamounts a lead they would never relinquish. WCU tacked on a pair of markers in the third inning as Graves scored on a wild pitch and Ketterman crossed home on a swinging third strike and a throw to first to record an out.
Presbyterian (7-6) cut the deficit back to one with two runs in the home half of the third as Chase Hughes collected his first of two hits on a two-RBI single to make it 3-2 through three complete.
Western Carolina scored three in the fifth inning with Ferreras plating Ketterman on a single and Needham homering to right-center to score two, giving the Catamounts a 6-2 edge. The four-run cushion stood until the eighth when WCU pushed across five runs, adding four more in the top of the ninth to provide the final tally, 15-2.
WCU starter
Davis Mortland (1-0) was credited with the victory, tossing a team-long two innings in the starting role, the first of nine pitchers to toe the rubber for the Catamounts. Mortland scattered three hits and worked around a walk with a strikeout. WCU's bullpen combined to keep the Blue Hose scoreless after the third inning, stranding a total of 16 PC runners on base. Relievers
Jacob Corn,
Tristen Campbell, and
Corey Bright each struck out two in an inning of work.
Alex Flood (0-1) took the loss for Presbyterian, allowing just one run on one hit in an inning of work, the first of nine pitchers used by the Blue Hose.
WCU outhit Presbyterian, 14-to-11, on Wednesday and took advantage of six walks and four hit batters.
Western Carolina (6-7) returns to the Palmetto State for this weekend's First Pitch Invitational, hosted by Michigan State at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, S.C. The Catamounts face Kansas (6-6) on Friday at 6 p.m., the host Spartans (5-6) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and Cincinnati (6-5) on Sunday at 5 p.m. Each game is scheduled to be broadcast by the Greenville Drive through its official YouTube page with Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy on the call.
