Charleston, S.C. – Redshirt senior right-hander Zach Franklin struck out seven over a career-long eight-inning start as Western Carolina claimed Friday evening's Southern Conference baseball series opener over The Citadel 4-2 at Riley Park.
 
Franklin (3-1) scored his second-consecutive victory in the starting role for the Catamounts and just missed matching his career-best for K's established a week ago in game one against Samford. A product of Marion, N.C., Franklin struck out seven against two walks and a hit batter, scattering six base hits and holding The Citadel to a pair of runs scored between the second and third innings. He retired the final seven batters that he faced, four on strikeouts.
 
In a role reversal for the second-consecutive week, junior Zebby Matthews scored his second save of the year, striking out two – both looking – in an inning of one-hit, scoreless relief in the bottom of the ninth to ice the victory for Franklin.
 
Western Carolina (17-20, 2-5 SoCon) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Friday's opener, using a walk and an error before plating its first run on a Will Prater infield groundout that scored Zach Ketterman. Immanuel Wilder then doubled to right-center to score Pascanel Ferreras for a 2-0 lead after one. In the second inning, Seth Graves singled to right to bring Bryson Parks for the three-run cushion.
 
The Bulldogs pushed across a single marker on a Cole Simpson triple in the second and a Ryan McCarthy RBI single in the third inning to make it a 3-2 game, but the home squad would get no closer.
 
Ketterman capped scoring with a solo home run to right field to extend WCU's lead to two in the top half of the fifth inning.
 
WCU stranded four in the win while the Bulldogs left seven on base in the losing effort.
 
Western Carolina's seven base hits were scattered between seven different players with four going for extra bases including doubles by Prater, Wilder, and Parks with Ketterman delivering his sixth home run of the season. Ketterman and Wilder both reached twice in the game after also collecting the two walks issued by Bulldog pitching.
 
Devin Beckley (4-3) suffered the loss for The Citadel, surrendering four runs – three of which were earned – on seven hits with six strikeouts against the two walks. Reliever George Derrick Floyd tossed the final frame of hitless, scoreless relief with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Simpson (2-for-3) and McCarthy (2-for-4) led the offensive efforts for the Bulldogs with Simpson's three-bagger representing the only extra-base hit for The Citadel in the loss. Simpson reached three times, adding an HBP, while Dylan Costa and Wells Sykes were both aboard twice with singles and walks.
 
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for Saturday with a 2 p.m. start at Riley Park. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.