Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball opens its second season this weekend, hosting mountain-rival East Tennessee State (ETSU) for a three-game Southern Conference opening series at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
Friday's game, presented by Harris Regional and Swain Community Hospitals, is slated for a 5 p.m. first pitch to open the series. Saturday's game two, presented by Ultra Star Multi-tainment Center, is scheduled for 3 p.m. following the Catamount Football Spring Football Showcase. The series concludes on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch.
Each game this weekend is slated to be
broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required) with
live stats available online through a link on CatamountSports.com.
Western Carolina (14-15) has won three of its last four games on the season including plating 14 runs in consecutive games in the series-clinching road win at Xavier and the midweek victory over Gardner-Webb on Wednesday night.
Over the recent uptick, WCU has raised its seasonal batting average to .280, sixth in the conference rankings. The Catamounts are the third-highest scoring team with 223 runs scored and are tied for second with 57 doubles and lead the league with 11 triples. Senior
Bryson Parks is tied for the most two-base hits with 10 entering the weekend while
Zach Ketterman is third with 37 runs scored and tied for first with three triples. On the mound, Friday starter
Zebby Matthews continues to lead the conference with 54 strikeouts including a league-best 19 strikeouts looking.
ETSU (17-8) has been idle since April 3 after dropping a three-game set against Big 12 foe Baylor out in Waco, Texas. The Buccaneers' midweek match-up against Appalachian State in Johnson City was canceled on Tuesday due to inclement weather – a third midweek game affected by weather for ETSU this spring. The Bucs are batting a SoCon-leading .305 collectively as a team on the year with 111 extra-base hits including a conference-best 64 doubles and 40 home runs, the second-most in the SoCon. Cam Norgren leads ETSU and ranks ninth in the SoCon with a .367 batting average to lead eight regulars with batting averages north of .300.
ETSU's pitching staff has a collective ERA of 4.04 over 223.0 innings of work this season, posting 242 strikeouts against 94 walks – the third-fewest in the SoCon.
The Bucs were picked just behind WCU in both preseason polls – fourth in the coaches' preseason tabulation and fifth from the voting media with the Catamounts tabbed third and fourth, respectively. ETSU put three players on the preseason All-SoCon team highlighted by SoCon Preseason Pitcher of the Year in Saturday starter, senior LHP Colby Stuart on the first team. He was joined by classmate Bryce Hodges on the first team with shortstop Ashton King finishing behind WCU's
Pascanel Ferreras in the voting.
WCU and ETSU meet for the 112th time on the baseball diamond on Friday to open conference play. The Catamounts lead the series against the Buccaneers, 69-40, after splitting last year's two meetings in Johnson City, Tenn., in doubleheader action. ETSU has won four of the last five in the series and the Bucs have victories in eight of the last 10 overall since a five-game WCU winning streak in 2016 and 2017.
Western Carolina is 16-22 in SoCon openers under head coach
Bobby Moranda since 2008 which includes a 7-1 mark at home as 10 of the previous 13 opening series have been played on the road. WCU won its league-opening series over The Citadel last season, taking the only two games played in late March. The Catamounts have twice opened SoCon play against ETSU in both 2016 and 2019, posting a 2-4 record. WCU was swept by ETSU in Johnson City, Tenn., back in the 2019 season with a pair of one-run games among the three contested and took 2-of-3 in Cullowhee in 2016.
Including the three-game set against ETSU, seven of WCU's next eight games will be played at home at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium. The Catamounts travel to mountain-rival UNC Asheville next Tuesday, April 12 in the backend of the nonconference home-and-home before hosting Samford in a special Thursday through Saturday conference series April 14-16. The stretch also includes a return visit from Gardner-Webb to Cullowhee on April 19.
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 8 | 5:00 p.m. | Coverage: ESPN+ | Live Stats
Probable Starters:
Western Carolina – RHP
Zebby Matthews (1-5, 5.74 ERA, 42.1 IP, 54K, 9BB)
ETSU – RHP Zach Kirby (2-0, 2.28 ERA, 27.2 IP, 24K, 11BB)
Saturday, April 9 | 3:00 p.m. | Coverage: ESPN+ | Live Stats
Probable Starters:
Western Carolina – LHP
Dylan Wheeler (0-1, 5.19 ERA, 8.2 IP, 6K, 4BB)
ETSU – LHP Colby Stuart (3-0, 5.52 ERA, 31.0 IP, 24K, 15BB)
Sunday, April 10 | 1:00 p.m. | Coverage: ESPN+ | Live Stats
Probable Starters:
Western Carolina – RHP
Gavin Mortenson (2-3, 3.75 ERA, 36.0 IP, 29K, 10BB)
ETSU – RHP Hunter Loyd (3-1, 1.34 ERA, 33.2 IP, 47K, 11BB)
