Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball hosts the UNCG Spartans for a three-game Southern Conference series at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium to wrap up the regular-season portion of its 2022 schedule and help set the seeding for next week's 2022 SoCon Baseball Championship, presented by Holston Gases at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C.
 
The series opens with consecutive 5 p.m. starts on both Thursday and Friday before concluding on Saturday's Senior Day with a scheduled 2 p.m. first pitch. Each game is slated to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
 
The Catamounts enter the weekend series in fourth-place, percentage points behind third-place Samford (10-8) and just percentage points ahead of the fifth-place tie between ETSU and UNCG at 9-9. The Catamounts can finish as high in the standings as third, needing at least two wins over the Spartans and two Samford losses in its series with Mercer.
 
Western Carolina (25-26, 9-8-1 SoCon) has won three of its last four SoCon series, taking 2-of-3 in the road series at both The Citadel and VMI before sweeping Mercer at home. Last weekend, WCU split the three-game series with league-leading Wofford, rebounding from a 15-4 loss in game one for a 9-2 victory in Saturday's game two behind the complete-game effort of Gavin Mortenson. Sunday's series rubber match endured a nearly six-hour weather delay before getting started and was halted in the top of the eighth inning in a 2-2- tie.
 
Much like the Catamounts, UNCG (25-27, 9-9 SoCon) has won its last four league series, winning 2-of-3 against Samford, VMI, and ETSU and sweeping The Citadel. The Spartans have won four of their last six games overall on the season.
 
Both teams enter the weekend series following midweek losses. WCU rallied from a four-run deficit in the top of the ninth inning before falling in extras at Gardner-Webb on Tuesday, while UNCG was downed in seven innings, 20-2, at North Carolina State in Raleigh.
 
Western Carolina enters the weekend ranked second in the SoCon in extra-base hits with 190, leading the league with 118 doubles – 15th in the NCAA – and 20 triples, tied for 13th in the NCAA. UNCG leads the SoCon with 556 total base hits including 159 for extra bases this spring.
 
The series features three of the top seasonal batting averages including UNCG's Hogan Windish (.400) and Kennedy Jones (.346), and WCU's Pascanel Ferreras (.360). Windish also boasts the league's top on-base percentage at .500 while Ferreras has a league-best 80 base hits and 148 total bases, and he is also tied for the most RBI in the SoCon with 57.
 
Thursday's series opener is the first game between the in-state foes to be played in Cullowhee since the 2018 season as six of the last eight series meetings were held in Greensboro with the other two – both in 2018 – coming at Fluor Field. The last two series meetings have been split, WCU winning two of the three games in 2019 and UNCG taking 2-of-3 a year ago in 2021. The Spartans swept the Catamounts in the most recent meeting in Cullowhee back in 2018, halting two-consecutive series win for WCU at home.
 
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:
Thursday, May 19 – 5:00 p.m. – Coverage: ESPN+  |  Live Stats
UNCG – Austin Parsley (8-4, 4.03 ERA; 87.0 IP, 77K, 12BB)
WCU – Jacob Corn (3-2, 5.12 ERA; 38.2 IP, 38K, 17BB)
 
Friday, May 20 – 5:00 p.m. – Coverage: ESPN+  |  Live Stats
UNCG – Jared Mathewson (4-5, 4.73 ERA; 78.0 IP, 53K, 23BB)
WCU – Gavin Mortenson (5-7, 5.30 ERA; 69.2 IP, 56K, 25BB)
 
Saturday, May 21 – 2:00 p.m. – Coverage: ESPN+  |  Live Stats
UNCG – TBA
WCU – TBA