Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball continues its Palmetto State swing this weekend, traveling down I-26 to Charleston, S.C., for a three-game nonconference series against former league foe College of Charleston at Patriots Point located in Mt. Pleasant. The action gets underway Friday, April 21, at 6 p.m., with the first pitch on Saturday slated for 2 p.m., ahead of Sunday's 1 p.m. finale.
 
Each game is scheduled to be broadcast online through FloBaseball (paid subscription required) with live stats available through links at CatamountSports.com.
 
Western Carolina (15-20) is coming off its second-consecutive midweek road win as the Catamounts rode a strong start and solid pitching effort to avenge a 13-inning home loss to USC Upstate on April 4 with a 13-1 victory at Harley Park on Tuesday. Five Catamount pitchers combined to limit the Spartans to just one run on three base hits. WCU downed mountain-rival UNC Asheville 13-4 in midweek action the previous week.
 
For the Catamounts, slugger James Hinson continues to rank second in the SoCon with a .720 slugging percentage that includes a team-best 10 home runs, tied for third in the conference. Pascanel Ferreras, Zach Ketterman, and Nate Stocum each have eight homers as WCU now has 49 collectively as a team – the third-most in the conference this year. Ferreras enters the week tied for third in the SoCon with a team-leading 39 RBI.
 
WCU's pitching staff continues to shuffle roles due to a variety of ailments and injuries with normal weekend starters sophomore RHP Matt Schepel and graduate transfer Nick Torres both scheduled to miss their normal starts this weekend for the nonconference series. Junior transfer two-way player and LHP Kyle Riesselmann will get the ball on Saturday with RHP Jonathan Todd, who earned on of the opening weekend starts for the Catamounts, slated to go on Friday night under the lights at Patriots Point.
 
About the College of Charleston:
The Cougars were tabbed as the preseason favorites out of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), receiving nine of the 11 first-place votes from the league's head coaches in the polling. CofC also landed seven players on the preseason All-CAA baseball team including two honorable mentions and the CAA Preseason Player of the Year, William Privette, a RHP who boasts a 1.24 ERA over 15 seasonal relief appearances.
 
The Cougars saw a four-game winning streak halted on Wednesday in a rescheduled match-up against nationally ranked instate foe #10 Coastal Carolina, falling 12-4 on Wednesday night in Conway, S.C. Before the midweek defeat, CofC had outscored its opponents 51-to-9 in victories over Charleston Southern and a three-game CAA series win at Monmouth.
 
On the year, the Cougars are batting .274 collectively as a team with 352 hits including 73 doubles, seven triples, and 30 home runs. Charleston is averaging 6.1 runs per game, having scored 221 over its 36 games played while surrendering just 199 runs, an average of 5.5 runs per contest on a .251 batting average against.
 
Four CofC regulars have batting averages over .300 on the season with preseason All-CAA selection JT Marr leading the way at .325. Cole Mathis is tied for third in the CAA with a team-best 14 doubles with Luke Wood pacing the team with seven home runs and 32 RBI. On the mound for the Cougars, Ty Good enters the weekend leading the CAA with 57 strikeouts while ranking eighth in ERA at 3.83, just behind starting rotation mate Trey Pooser at 3.19, fifth in the CAA.
 
Western Carolina vs. College of Charleston – The Series:
Former conference foes from 1998 through 2013, Western Carolina and the College of Charleston have met 55 times previously on the baseball diamond with the Catamounts trailing in the series, 17-38, in a series that dates to 1999. WCU took 2-of-3 in the most recent series meetings back played in Charleston back in 2013, the final year the Cougars were in the SoCon. All told, CofC has won seven of the last 10 series meetings dating back to 2011.
 
On Deck for Western Carolina:
Playing a combined 10 of 12 on the road over the next two weeks, WCU makes its first of two quick pitstops at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium on Tuesday, April 25, as the Catamounts welcome Gardner-Webb to Cullowhee in the backend of a nonconference home-and-home. WCU looks to avenge a 14-4 road loss to the Runnin' Bulldogs in Boiling Springs back on March 1. The Catamounts then return to league play on the road next weekend visiting mountain SoCon rival ETSU in Johnson City April 28-30.
 
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).
 

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2023 Catamount Baseball – Western Carolina (15-20) at College of Charleston (22-14)

Fri., April 21 | 6:00 pm |  Coverage: FloBaseball ($) |  LiveStats
Projected Pitching Match-up:
CofC – Sr. RHP Ty Good (4-2, 3.83 ERA; 9 app., 9 app., 57K, 21BB)
WCU – Jr. RHP Jonathan Todd (1-1, 9.55 ERA; 10 app., 3 GS, 21K, 10BB)
 
Sat., April 22 | 2:00 pm |  Coverage: FloBaseball ($) |  LiveStats
Projected Pitching Match-up:
CofC – Sr. RHP Trey Pooser (4-1, 3.19 ERA; 9 app., 9 GS, 43K, 18BB)
WCU – Jr. LHP Kyle Riesselmann (1-1, 5.40 ERA; 8 app., 7 GS, 29K, 9BB)
 
Sun., April 23 | 1:00 pm |  Coverage: FloBaseball ($) |  LiveStats
Projected Pitching Match-up:
CofC – Soph. RHP Cole Mathis (3-1, 4.09 ERA; 10 app., 8 GS, 36K, 14BB)
WCU – TBD