Cullowhee, N.C. – For a second-straight weekend, Western Carolina baseball faces one of the top teams in the Southern Conference as the Catamounts travel to Spartanburg, S.C., to face the league-leading Wofford Terriers for a three-game conference series at Russell C. King Field. Admission for all regular-season baseball games at Wofford is free.
 
The series opens with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday, May 13, and continues Saturday, May 14 at 3 p.m. with the finale on Sunday, May 15 at 1 p.m. Each game is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). Friday's game is also slated to be broadcast on the Catamount Sports Network (weather permitting based on broadcast location) with live audio and live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Western Carolina (24-24, 8-7 SoCon) has won three-straight conference series including two on the road at both The Citadel and VMI. The Catamounts enter the weekend after sweeping the Mercer Bears – which entered the series tied for the SoCon lead with Wofford – last week in Cullowhee. WCU saw its season-long five-game winning streak snapped at Kennesaw State on Wednesday as the Owls rallied behind a four-run seventh to upend the resurgent Catamount side.
 
WCU swept the SoCon weekly awards on Monday with Pascanel Ferreras earning his second-straight SoCon Player of the Week honor after batting .611 (11-for-18) with three doubles and two home runs. Ferreras is batting .593 over the first six games in May. Zebby Matthews collected SoCon Pitcher of the Week honors by scoring a three-inning save and a win in extra-innings over Mercer last weekend. Matthews continues to lead the SoCon in strikeouts (97) and strikeouts looking (39). WCU starter Zach Franklin (5-1) earned his fourth-straight victory on the mound in game one against the Bears, eclipsing the 200-career strikeout plateau.
 
After dropping two out of three in the road SoCon series at Samford, Wofford (35-13, 12-3 SoCon) has won six-straight including sweeping The Citadel last weekend and trouncing Presbyterian 21-2 in seven-innings on Wednesday night. Combined, the league-leading Terriers have swept three SoCon series this season – UNCG, ETSU, and The Citadel – and took 2-of-3 from Mercer in late April in Macon, Ga.
 
Wofford is batting a SoCon-leading .315 on the season and averaging 8.3 runs on 10.4 hits per game through the season. The Terriers lead the SoCon in on-base percentage (.420) and stolen bases with 129, among the top three in the NCAA. Lawson Hill paces the squad with a .385 batting average with 70 hits in 182 appearances with 17 doubles, a triple, and a home run. Ryan Galanie leads two Terriers with double-digit home runs with 13, just ahead of John Dempsey with 11 on a .366 batting average.
 
The Terrier pitching staff also paces the SoCon with a 4.75 ERA, limiting teams to a .273 batting average against and holding squads to an average of 5.3 runs on 9.4 hits per game. Projected right-handed starters Matthew Marchal and Josh Vitus have combined for eight of Wofford's 36 victories with reliever Holden Wilder (7-0) and All-SoCon selection Dalton Rhadans (7-3) pacing the squad with seven victories apiece.
 
Western Carolina leads the all-time series with Wofford 74-25 including three-straight victories among the eight meetings last season. The Terriers took 2-of-3 from WCU both in Spartanburg and in Cullowhee in division play in 2021 before the Catamounts rode the momentum of winning game three of the series in Cullowhee to down Wofford in two meetings in the SoCon tournament in Greenville, S.C.
 
Following the weekend series, the Catamounts step out of conference for the final time in the midweek on Tuesday, May 17 visiting Gardner-Webb in the third game of a three-game nonconference series. WCU defeated the Runnin' Bulldogs 14-2 on April 6 and 11-3 on April 19, both in Cullowhee. The Catamounts then wrap up the regular season by hosting UNCG on Thursday through Saturday, May 19-21 at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
 
Keep track of everything with WCU Athletics and Catamount baseball including any 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, May 13 – 6:00 pm – Coverage:  ESPN+  |  Listen Live (CSN)  |  Live Stats
WCU – RHP Zack Franklin (5-1, 2.08 ERA; 52.0 IP, 62K, 13BB)
Wofford – RHP Matthew Marchal (4-2, 2.93 ERA; 67.2 IP, 79K, 10BB)
 
Saturday, May 14 – 3:00 pm – Coverage:  ESPN+  |  Live Stats
WCU – RHP Gavin Mortenson (4-7, 5.79 ERA; 60.2 IP, 52K, 23 BB)
Wofford – RHP Josh Vitus (4-3, 2.88 ERA; 40.2 IP, 40K, 7BB)
 
Sunday, May 15 – 1:00 pm – Coverage:  ESPN+  |  Live Stats
WCU – TBA
Wofford – TBA