Cullowhee, N.C. – After winning its Southern Conference series in the South Carolina Lowcountry over The Citadel, Western Carolina baseball makes a quick stop at home before heading back on the road in league play this weekend. The Catamounts host the Presbyterian Blue Hose on Wednesday evening at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium before a three-game SoCon set in Lexington, Va., against the VMI Keydets (12-29, 3-6 SoCon).
 
Season Records: 18-21 (L-1) – 3-6 SoCon
 
The Week Ahead:
Western Carolina plays Presbyterian in the backend of a nonconference midweek home-and-home on Wednesday evening in Cullowhee. The Catamounts thumped the Blue Hose 15-2 in Clinton, S.C., back on March 9 as the bats came alive for 15 runs on 14 hits including four for extra bases. WCU had four players post multi-hit games including a three-hit outing by Zach Ketterman that included a double and three runs scored. Seth Graves also scored three runs, reaching on a pair of singles and a walk, and Will Prater plated three including two on a triple to right field.
 
Presbyterian (18-20) has a pair of midweek games, scheduled to face Clemson on Tuesday night before coming to Cullowhee. The Blue Hose swept Winthrop in Big South action last weekend. The defending Big South champions were picked fourth in the preseason conference polling. WCU has won six of the eight series meetings between the two schools dating back to 1992. The two split the most recent seasonal home-and-home with the road team claiming victory with the Blue Hose winning their first-ever game over WCU in Cullowhee back in May of 2017.
 
Projected Starting Pitcher:
WCU – RHP Nick Hyde (11 app., 8.71 ERA, 10.1 IP, 10K, 6BB)
PC – TBA
 
Western Carolina then heads to Gray-Minor Stadium in Lexington, Va., for a three-game set against the VMI Keydets beginning on Friday evening. Idle in the midweek, the Keydets have dropped five-straight games on the season including a 22-5, seven-inning loss at home against The Citadel, a three-run loss to Commonwealth rival Virginia Tech and were swept last weekend at ETSU in SoCon play. The Catamounts have won four of the last five over VMI including sweeping the series in Cullowhee a season ago with victories by a combined eight runs.
 
Wed., April 27 – WCU vs. Presbyterian, 5 p.m. – Cullowhee – ESPN+  |  Live Stats
Fri., April 29 – WCU at VMI, 6 p.m. – Lexington, Va. – ESPN+  |  Live Stats
Sat., April 30 – WCU at VMI, 2 p.m. – Lexington, Va. – ESPN+  |  Live Stats
Sun., May 1 – WCU at VMI, 1 p.m. – Lexington, Va. – ESPN+  |  Live Stats
 
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).
 
Last Week for the Catamounts:
- Freshman RHP Lucas Hartman struck out 10 batters in a pair of relief appearances including a career-high nine over a career-long 5.0 relief effort in the nonconference midweek win over Gardner-Webb, limiting the Runnin' Bulldogs to a run on just two hits and two walks to earn his first career win;
 
- Sophomore Nate Stocum led WCU with a .500 batting average on the week, collecting hits in all four games on the week including a three-hit effort in Saturday's series-clinching win at The Citadel … Stocum finished 6-for-12 on the week with a double against Gardner-Webb in his lone plate appearance … the Raleigh, N.C., native went 5-for-11 in the three-game set at The Citadel with a double and a solo homer in the Saturday game against The Citadel;
 
- WCU outscored its two opponents 23-to-9 last week while limiting the opposition to a .175 batting average … Catamount pitchers recorded 36 strikeouts over the 35 innings of work.
 
Catamount Baseball Diamond Notes:
- Western Carolina enters the week batting .276 as a team, fifth in the SoCon … the Catamounts are third in slugging percentage (.460) and fifth in on-base percentage (.384) … WCU has scored 291 runs this season (4th, averaging 7.46 runs per game;
 
- WCU has scored in double-figures 13 times this season with an 11-2 record … the Catamounts have also secured double-digit hits 17 times this season;
 
- The Catamounts enter the week ranked THIRD in the SoCon with 150 combined extra-base hits including a league-leading 17 triples … Mercer has 159 extra-base hits including 76 homers with ETSU just behind with 156 including a SoCon-best 87 doubles;
 
- Bryson Parks carries a team-best active 12-game reached base safely streak into the week while Will Prater has a nine-game RBS streak intact … Parks reached in 17-straight games to start the season;
 
- Nate Stocum has WCU's longest currently active hitting streak at five straight after Parks saw his 11-game streak end in game three at The Citadel … WCU has seen four players post double-digit game hitting streaks – but none longer than 11 games … Parks, Pascanel Ferreras, and Zach Ketterman each had 11-game hit streaks this spring and Immanuel Wilder hit in 10-straight;
 
- Only two players – Zach Ketterman (35 times) and Will Prater (4 times) have batted in the lead-off spot for WCU this season and, only two players – Pascanel Ferreras (22 times) and Will Prater (17 times) have hit in the No. 3 spot in the lineup;
 
Catamounts Among the SoCon Rankings:
- Immanuel Wilder ranks sixth in the SoCon in on-base percentage at .454;
 
- Zach Ketterman ranks third in the league with 48 runs scored with Pascanel Ferreras (38) ranking tied for fifth;
 
- Will Prater is ranked fourth in the SoCon with a team-best 53 base hits on the season, just ahead of Pascanel Ferreras (6th-t, 51) … Prater has a team-best 36 RBI, tied for 8th in the SoCon;
 
- Bryson Parks ranks tied for first in the SoCon in doubles (15) with Will Prater ranking tied for 5th with 13 … Parks also ranks tied for second with Ketterman for HBPs (11) with Parks ranking fourth with 13 stolen bases;
 
- Zach Ketterman has a SoCon-leading five triples, two ahead of teammate Will Prater in a tie for second with three, three-base hits; 
 
- WCU redshirt junior Zebby Matthews continues to lead the SoCon with 74 strikeouts on the season including a SoCon-best 30 strikeouts looking;
 
- Redshirt senior Zach Franklin has won consecutive starts for WCU while also ranking fifth with nine games finished and tied for fifth with three saves.