Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina junior infielder Pascanel Ferreras highlighted two Catamounts named to the 2023 Preseason All-Southern Conference team, garnering the SoCon's Preseason Player of the Year honors for a second-consecutive season on Thursday as the league announced its preseason awards.
 
Ferreras, who collected the SoCon's preseason top player award a year ago, earned a preseason first-team All-SoCon selection at shortstop. He was joined on the honorary squad by junior outfielder Nate Stocum as a second-team preseason All-SoCon pick, the first of his collegiate career.
 
WCU was picked sixth in preseason polling of both the league's head coaches, and the voting members of the SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA) also unveiled on Thursday afternoon.
 
A two-time, postseason All-Southern Conference selection, Ferreras adds to his litany of preseason honors that included earning all-conference and player-of-the-year plaudits for the SoCon by Perfect Game back in late January.
 
Ferreras was a first-team All-SoCon selection at shortstop in 2022 after claiming WCU's team Triple Crown – the first since 2017 – by leading the team in batting average (.362), home runs (15), and RBI (60). His 15 round-trippers ranked him seventh in the SoCon, while also ranking tied for second with 22 doubles, third overall in base hits (85), RBI (60), and slugging percentage (.672), and fifth in batting average and seventh in on-base percentage (.443). Also, his 158 total bases in 2022 were the most in the league.
 
A freshman All-America selection at the close of the 2021 season, Ferreras is a .346 career hitter over his first two seasons in Cullowhee, collecting 155 hits with 33 doubles, five triples, and 31 home runs. He has scored 113 runs with 116 total RBI.
 
Stocum enters his fourth year on the WCU roster having played in 75 games over the past two seasons with 59 starts mostly coming in the outfield. The Raleigh, N.C., product hit a career-best .288 last season with 18 of his 49 hits going for extra bases including 10 doubles, a pair of triples, and six home runs. The left-handed batter drove in 37 runs a season ago while scoring 33 times. Including 14 walks and nine HBPs, Stocum posted a .362 on-base percentage. With six sacrifice flies in 2022, Stocum was tied for first in the SoCon rankings.
 
Over the past two summers, Stocum has earned all-star status – first with the Fuquay-Varina (N.C.) Twins in the summer of 2021 and most recently garnering a South Division All-Start team selection playing for the Covington (Va.) Lumberjacks of the Valley League.
 
All told, seven of the eight SoCon baseball teams were represented on the preseason all-conference squads with Wofford and Samford leading the way with five selections apiece. Four Terriers landed on the first team while Samford put four on the second team. ETSU and UNCG both had two first-team selections among its three honorees with Mercer and VMI tallying two second-team nods of its three honorees.
 
Along with Ferreras, Wofford senior right-handed starter Matthew Marchal was picked as the preseason favorite for the SoCon Pitcher of the Year honor.
 
Defending regular-season champion and tournament runner-up Wofford was selected to repeat as the preseason favorite in 2023, edging Mercer in both polls. The Terriers received five of the eight first-place votes from the coaches and nine of the 18 votes in the media polling. Last year's tournament champion as the No. 4 seed, UNCG was pegged in third in the coaches poll and fourth in the media tabulation, swapping positions with Samford by just a one-vote margin in both polls.
 
Rounding out the preseason polling, ETSU was picked fifth and WCU sixth in both with VMI and The Citadel trading the seventh and eighth spots in the coaches and media polls.
 
Western Carolina opens the 2023 season with a four-game homestand, hosting the Akron Zips out of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Feb. 17-19 as the Catamounts play 10 of their first 12 seasonal games at home. WCU and Akron have met on the baseball diamond just once – a 9-8 come-from-behind victory for the Catamounts in tournament action at McNair Field in Forest City, N.C., back in March 2011.
 
The 2023 Opening Weekend series against Akron is slated to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Both season and single-game tickets for the 26-game 2023 home schedule at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium are on sale now through the Catamount Athletics ticket office, located on the first floor of the Ramsey Center, by phone at (828) 227-2401, and online at CatamountSports.com/BuyTickets.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount baseball and WCU Athletics through social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports), Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountBSB), and Instagram (wcu_catamounts, catamountbsb).
 
2023 SoCon Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll
Team (First-Place Votes) - Points
1. Wofford (5) - 46
2. Mercer (2) - 41
3. UNCG (1) - 34
4. Samford - 33
5. ETSU - 25
6. Western Carolina - 20
7. VMI - 13
8. The Citadel - 12
 
2023 SoCon Baseball Preseason Media Poll
Team (First-Place Votes) - Points
1. Wofford (9) - 130
2. Mercer (6) - 122
3. Samford (1) - 103
4. UNCG (2) - 102
5. ETSU - 68
6. Western Carolina - 60
7. The Citadel - 35
8. VMI - 28
 
2023 SoCon Preseason Player of the Year
Pascanel Ferreras, Jr., SS, Western Carolina
 
2023 SoCon Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Matthew Marchal, Sr., RHP, Wofford
 
2023 Preseason All-SoCon Baseball Team
First team
SP – Michael Ross, Jr., Samford
SP – Matthew Marchal, Sr., Wofford
RP – Luke Stephens, Sr., Wofford
C – Noah Webb, Jr., ETSU
1B – Ryan Galanie, Sr., Wofford
2B – Brice Martinez, Jr., Wofford
SS – Pascanel Ferreras, Jr., Western Carolina
3B – Mitchell Smith, Jr., UNCG
OF – Tommy Barth, So., ETSU
OF – Treyson Hughes, So., Mercer
OF – Kennedy Jones, So., UNCG
DH – Brett Cook, Jr., VMI
 
Second team
SP – Josh Harlow, Sr., Mercer
SP – Jacob Cravey, Jr., Samford
RP – Alex Goff, Sr., Samford
C – Dallas Callahan, Sr., UNCG
1B – Stephen Klein, Sr., Samford
2B – Garrett Staton, R-So., Samford
SS – Zac Morris, R-Jr., VMI
3B – Justin Starke, R-Jr., VMI
OF – Jozsef Rohrbacher, Sr., Mercer
OF – Nate Stocum, Jr., Western Carolina
OF – Trey Yunger, Sr., Wofford
DH – Garett Wallace, Sr., ETSU