Cullowhee, N.C. – Pascanel Ferreras belted his first home run of the season as a part of a three-hit effort and Nate Stocum doubled twice for the Catamounts, but Western Carolina was unable to find timely hitting, stranding a combined 12 base runners in dropping Friday's nonconference series-opener against Xavier 9-4 at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
 
The series continues Saturday afternoon with the first pitch now pushed back to 6:00 p.m., weather permitting (UPDATED 10:30 A.M.). Coverage of game two is available through live stats on CatamountSports.com and via social media using the handle @CatamountBSB.
 
Ferreras reached base four times with two singles, a walk, and a lead-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth that ultimately provided the final tally. The Stone Mountain, Ga., native extended his active hitting streak to 10-straight dating back to last season while having reached base safely in 12 consecutive games. Stocum finished 2-for-5 with a two-run double that handed the Catamounts a 2-1 lead through three complete on Friday.
 
WCU's remaining five hits were scattered between five players with Brandon Butterworth (1-for-5) driving in a run on a double and Kyle Riesselmann reaching twice with a single and a walk. Riesselmann also made one of the top plays of the day in right field, pulling a would-be home run back from over the fence in the top of the fourth inning.
 
Stocum's double down the right field line scored two in the home half of the third as WCU rallied from an early deficit to lead 2-1 through three complete. However, freshman Hayden Christiansen belted a two-run homer to left-center and Jack Housinger laced an RBI double down the right-field line for a three-spot in the top of the fifth to push the Musketeers ahead for good, 4-2.
 
WCU clawed back to within a run on Butterworth's run-scoring double to left-center field in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Xavier scored five over the final two frames to carry a six-run advantage in the home portion of the ninth. Ferreras capped the scoring with a solo homer in the final frame – the 32nd round-tripper of his career.
 
Starter Matt Schepel (1-1) suffered the loss after surrendering four earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts without a walk over five innings of work. Dante Visconti struck out two in two innings of relief with Nick Torres and Dylan Wheeler also collecting K's out of the bullpen.
 
For the Musketeers Christiansen (2-for-4) collected four RBI on two base hits including the go-ahead two-run home run in the fifth inning. Grant Stephenson collected three RBI on a 2-for-5 showing with Andrew Walker scoring twice in a team-best 3-for-5 performance offensively.
 
Ethan Bosacker (1-0) scored the first victory of the season for Xavier (1-5), striking out six against three walks over five innings while allowing two runs, only one of which was earned. The Musketeer bullpen limited WCU to two runs on five hits over the final four innings with Justin Loer striking out four.
 
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