Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball returns to Southern Conference play this weekend as it travels to Lexington, Va., for a three-game series against the VMI Keydets. The series opens on Friday at 6 p.m. at Gray-Minor Stadium with a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and wraps up on Sunday with the first pitch at 1 p.m.
 
Each game is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats through StatBroadcast with links available online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Western Carolina (18-22, 3-6 SoCon) is coming off a tough 11-8, extra-inning home loss on Wednesday night in the backend of a nonconference midweek home-and-home against Presbyterian. WCU led by two runs on three different occasions and then later overcame a two-run deficit with a game-tying, two-run homer by Drew Needham and took a one-run advantage into the final frame only to see the Blue Hose pull even and eventually win with a three-spot in the top of the 10th inning.
 
The Catamounts enter their second-consecutive SoCon road series on the heels of taking 2-of-3 at The Citadel in Charleston last weekend.
 
Idle in the midweek, VMI (12-29, 3-6 SoCon) has dropped five-straight games on the season including four consecutive in league play. Picked seventh in both preseason SoCon polls, the Keydets suffered a 22-5, seven-inning loss in the finale at The Citadel and were swept last weekend at ETSU in Johnson City, Tenn. VMI dropped 2-of-3 at Samford on opening weekend before winning the series against The Citadel.
 
VMI is batting .274 collectively as a team with 109 extra-base hits including 65 doubles, nine triples, and 35 home runs, and are averaging 5.5 runs per game. The Keydet pitching staff has a 7.30 collective team ERA, surrendering an average of 10.7 hits and 8.2 runs per game.
 
Three Keydet regulars are batting over .300 on the season, each ranked inside the Top 10 in the Southern Conference. VMI is paced by reigning SoCon Freshman of the Year in redshirt sophomore Justin Starke with a team-best .355 average that includes eight doubles and nine home runs. Starke was a preseason first-team All-SoCon selection. Brett Cook (.347) also has nine doubles, nine homers, and a team-best 35 RBI, while Will Knight (.346) – a preseason second-team All-SoCon selection – has nine doubles, a triple, and two homers.
 
Western Carolina leads the all-time series with VMI, 67-22, including a 23-11 edge in the series in Lexington. 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. WCU won the first game in a weather-shortened five-inning affair, 3-0 after heavy fog moved in and settled over the field. The Catamounts rallied from a 7-1 deficit to claim the series with a 9-8 victory before outslugging VMI 16-12 to complete the sweep.
 
After the weekend series on post in Lexington, Va., the Catamounts play four-straight games at home including a midweek match-up against USC Upstate in the backend of the nonconference home-and-home on May 4 before hosting Mercer for a three-game SoCon series on May 6-8.
 
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 Matchups:
Friday, April 29 | 6:00 p.m. | Coverage: ESPN+ | Live Stats
Western Carolina – RHP Zach Franklin (3-1, 2.37 ERA, 38.0 IP, 45K, 9BB)
VMI – LHP Trey Morgan (1-1, 6.88 ERA, 34.0 IP, 17K, 11BB)
 
Saturday, April 30 | 2:00 p.m. | Coverage: ESPN+ | Live Stats
Western Carolina – RHP Gavin Mortenson (3-6, 4.82 ERA, 52.1 IP, 42K, 20BB)
VMI – RHP Tyler Kaltrieder (1-4, 6.41 ERA, 39.1 IP, 34K, 10BB)
 
Sunday, May 1 | 1:00 p.m. | Coverage: ESPN+ | Live Stats
Western Carolina – TBA
VMI – TBA