Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball concludes its current seven-game road swing by traveling to Ohio for a three-game, nonconference road series against the Big East Conference-member Xavier Musketeers.
 
Friday's series opener will be played at beautiful Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio – site of the Big East Conference baseball tournament – with coverage available through live stats with audio provided by Xavier (Listen Online). The remainder of the weekend series will be played on-campus at Xavier's Hayden Field with coverage in live stats and video through FLOSPORTS (paid subscription required).
 
Western Carolina (11-14) looks to build momentum in its final nonconference weekend series. The Catamounts have dropped four of their last five since taking the home series over UT-Martin including a midweek road loss at the nation's No. 1 team, the Tennessee Volunteers on Wednesday night in Knoxville. The Catamounts are hitting .278 as a team with 83 total extra-base hits including 48 doubles, nine triples, and 26 homers, averaging 7.4 runs per game.
 
Two-thirds of WCU's weekend rotation remains unchanged as head coach Bobby Moranda will bookend the weekend with right-handed starters in Zebby Matthews and Gavin Mortenson. Matthews was the tough-luck loser on Wednesday against top-ranked Tennessee, tossing just one inning as scheduled in the midweek bullpen start. Saturday at Xavier will see a different left-hander toe the rubber at the start of the game as second-year sophomore southpaw Dylan Wheeler makes his first collegiate start. The Garner, N.C., native has 10 career appearances including eight this season with 10.0 career innings pitched and a 5.40 career ERA. Eric Wallington (0-2, 6.20 ERA) had been WCU's number two starter most of the season but moves to the bullpen this weekend. The hard-throwing southpaw worked around a double and a walk against the Vols by inducing an infield double-play to face four batters Wednesday night.
 
WCU continues to work anticipated preseason starters who were injured at the start of the season back into its lineup. Sophomore catcher Cody Rech made his first start of the season on Wednesday against Tennessee after being sidelined since late in the fall, while Daniel Walsh was returned to the starting DH role coming off the broken hand suffered in preseason practice. Moranda has continued to tinker with the defensive alignment with Will Prater moving over to first base as the starter the past three games allowing freshman Brandon Butterworth to see time at second base.
 
Xavier (13-13) enters the weekend having won six straight and has victories in eight of its last nine games on the season. The Musketeers took 3-of-4 from Indiana in Bloomington, upended Michigan 8-2 in the mid-week, and most recently swept a four-game series against crosstown rival Cincinnati – one of two common opponents on the season in addition to USC Upstate. Xavier, which played 22 road games before its first home date on March 23, is batting .284 collectively as a team with 83 extra-base hits including 44 doubles, four triples, and 35 home runs, scoring an average of 6.8 runs per game.
 
Xavier left-handed reliever Jack Lynch earned Big East Conference Pitcher of the Week accolades last week after pitching 6.2 combined innings in three appearances with nine strikeouts. Senior shortstop Jack Housinger earned weekly honor roll plaudits after homering twice including a grand-slam against rival Cincinnati in a four-hit week.
 
The 2021 Big East Championship runner-up, Xavier was picked third in the preseason Big East Conference coaches' poll behind UConn and Creighton. Four Musketeers collected Preseason All-Big East honors including Housinger, graduate student catcher Jerry Huntzinger, senior first baseman Luke Franzoni, and senior outfielder Andrew Walker.
 
WCU and Xavier have met just three times previously on the baseball diamond with the Catamounts taking 2-of-3 from the Musketeers at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium in Cullowhee back in the 2007 season. That year, the Catamounts went on to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
 
Following the three-game swing through Ohio, WCU returns home for a short four-game homestand beginning next Wednesday (April 6) with the first of three seasonal meetings against Gardner-Webb before opening Southern Conference play April 8-10 against ETSU in Cullowhee.
 
Keep track of everything with WCU Athletics and Catamount baseball including weather-related schedule updates through social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports), Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountBSB), and Instagram (wcu_catamounts, catamountbsb).
 
Projected Starting Pitcher Match-ups:
Friday, April 1  |  5:00 p.m.  |  Coverage:  Live Stats  |  Listen Live (Xavier Audio)
Probable Starters:
Western Carolina – RHP Zebby Matthews (0-5, 6.19 ERA, 36.1 IP, 50K, 5BB)
Xavier – LHP Trevor Olson (1-2, 6.57 ERA, 24.2 IP, 18K, 17BB)
 
Saturday, April 2  |  2:00 p.m.  |  Coverage: FLOSPORTS ($)  |   Live Stats
Probable Starters:
Western Carolina – LHP Dylan Wheeler (0-0, 3.18 ERA, 5.2 IP, 5K, 1BB)
Xavier – RHP Lane Flamm (1-2, 13.50 ERA, 11.1 IP, 11K, 14BB)
 
Sunday, April 3  |  1:00 p.m.  |  Coverage: FLOSPORTS ($)  |   Live Stats
Probable Starters:
Western Carolina – RHP Gavin Mortenson (1-3, 4.20 ERA, 30.0 IP, 24K, 7BB)
Xavier – RHP George Eisenhardt (1-4, 9.39 ERA, 23.0 IP, 16K, 18BB)