Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina's quest for a league-record 11th baseball tournament crown opens on Wednesday as play gets underway in the 2022 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, S.C. The No. 6 seed Catamounts face the No. 7 seed VMI Keydets at 12:30 p.m. in the second game of a four-game opening day in an amended tournament schedule.
 
For the third time in the past four trips to the conference tournament since 2018 – minus the halted season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic when the league did not hold its annual conference tournament – WCU will have to play its way through a first-round, single-elimination game to join the double-elimination tournament bracket. And this year, with unfavorable weather forecasts on the horizon, it could mean having to play two on the first day of action.
 
But first, the sixth-seeded Catamounts must find their way past the seventh-seeded VMI Keydets in the second of the two, win-or-go-home games at Fluor Field. The winner will advance to face the No. 3 seed Samford Bulldogs (26-27, 12-9 SoCon) in the fourth game on Wednesday's docket with an anticipated first pitch of 7:30 p.m.
 
Single-day general admission tickets for the 2022 SoCon Baseball Championship are on-sale online through the Greenville Drive, the minor league Boston Red Sox Class A affiliate, with a link on SoConSports.com or CatamountSports.com, and are available on game days at the ticket windows.
 
Each game of this week's Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases is slated to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats through StatBroadcast available online at CatamountSports.com and SoConSports.com.
 
After opening the month of May with five-consecutive victories that auspiciously started with a gutsy extra-inning win over VMI, Western Carolina (25-29-1, 9-11-1 SoCon) stumbled down the stretch heading into the tournament with losses in its final four games of the regular season including being swept by UNCG last weekend in Cullowhee. The series loss to the Spartans halted a string of four-straight league weekends in which WCU won as many or more than it lost to SoCon foes, winning three-straight series at The Citadel, at VMI, and sweeping second-place Mercer at home. WCU lost its chance of avoiding the single-elimination game after entering the home weekend with a chance at finishing in third place in the league before being relegated to sixth.
 
Including the aforementioned 8-5 victory in 10 innings in the Sunday series rubber match, WCU took 2-of-3 from the Keydets on post in Lexington, Va. WCU's two wins were hard-fought, though, escaping with a one-run victory in the opener by holding-off a Keydet four-run, ninth-inning rally, and then WCU rallied from an early three-run deficit and plated four runs in the top of the 10th to claim the finale in extras.
 
Despite winning the set, the Keydets out-hit WCU, 37-to-33, with team batting averages of .319 for VMI and .292 for WCU. Sophomore Pascanel Ferreras batted .615 against the Keydets with seven of his eight hits going for extra bases including three doubles and four home runs with eight RBI. Senior Immanuel Wilder batted .417 over the three-game set for WCU. Zac Morris, a second-team All-SoCon selection by the voting media, batted a team-best .500 (7-for-14) for the Keydets with a double, home run, and five RBI. Justin Nase (5-for-11) and Jed Barrett (4-for-10) also both batted over .400 to lead VMI in the regular-season series.
 
VMI (16-39, 6-15 SoCon) has dropped six-straight games entering the conference tournament since taking the series-opener at Mercer, 10-9, back on May 13. The Keydets have just six wins away from Lexington this season (6-23). VMI won one series this year, taking 2-of-3 from military rival The Citadel at home, and managed to take at least one game in all but two SoCon series as the Keydets were swept by ETSU and Wofford, the latter on the final weekend of the regular season.
 
The projected pitching match-up includes WCU's Zach Franklin against freshman RHP Tyler Kaltreider for the Keydets. In the regular-season meeting, Franklin struck out seven over a seven-inning start, limiting VMI to a run on four singles in the Friday win. Kaltreider, a product of Warrenton, Va., earned VMI's lone series win, striking out 11 over 6.1 innings while allowing five runs on nine hits – six of which going for extra bases including three doubles and three home runs.
 
Western Carolina and VMI have met 12 times previously in the SoCon Baseball Tournament with the Catamounts holding a 10-2 edge in the postseason event. The two have not squared off at the champion-crowning event since 1999, an 8-4 Catamount victory in Charleston, S.C. WCU has won the last two series match-ups in the tournament, last losing in the first round of the 1996 event at Riley Park.
 
The Catamounts lead the all-time series history over VMI, 69-23, and have victories in six of the past eight series meetings dating back to 2019 – that coming on the heels of four-straight Keydet victories, the longest losing skid suffered by WCU in series history.
 
Earlier on Tuesday, three Catamounts earned postseason All-Southern Conference honors as senior right-handed pitcher Zach Franklin and sophomore shortstop Pascanel Ferreras collected first-team honors from both the league's head coaches and voting media, while senior infielder Will Prater was named second-team by the coaches at second base.
 
Projected Starting Pitcher Matchup:
Wednesday, May 5 – 12:30 p.m. | Fluor Field
VMI – RHP Tyler Kaltreider (3-6, 6.60 ERA; 60.0 IP, 56K, 13BB)
WCU – RHP Zach Franklin (5-1, 2.17 ERA; 54.0 IP, 64K, 16BB)
 

Catamount Club Tournament Pregame Socials:

The Catamount Club will hold a special pre-tournament social at Mac's Speed Shop (930 S. Main St., Greenville, S.C.) two hours ahead of each game played by the Catamounts in Greenville, S.C., beginning with Wednesday's (May 25) tournament opener. If the Catamounts advance and play again at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the special event will take place beginning around 5 p.m., and will continue throughout the tournament with a two-hour start time each day.
 
To RSVP for the social, please email the Catamount Club at catamountclub@wcu.edu or call (828) 227-3749.
 
SoCon Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
May 25 (Wednesday)
Game 1: #5 ETSU vs. #8 The Citadel, 9:00 a.m. 
Game 2: #6 Western Carolina vs. #7 VMI, 12:30 p.m.
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. #4 UNCG, 4:00 p.m.
Game 4: Winner Game 2 vs. #3 Samford, 7:30 p.m.
 
May 26 (Thursday)
No games scheduled (due to inclement weather)
 
May 27 (Friday)
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. #1 Wofford, 9:00 a.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. #2 Mercer, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5, 4:00 p.m.
Game 8: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 6, 7:30 p.m. 
 
May 28 (Saturday)
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, Noon
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 3:30 p.m. 
Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 9, 7:00 p.m.
 
May 29 (Sunday)
Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 11, Noon
Game 13: Game 12 winner vs. Game 12 loser (if necessary), 40 minutes after Game 12