Cullowhee, N.C. – Seeded seventh, Western Carolina baseball opens play in the 2023 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases on Wednesday, May 24, in the second of two single-elimination games at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, S.C. The Catamounts face No. 6 seed UNCG with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
Winner of the WCU-UNCG game advances to face No. 3 seed Wofford at 7 p.m., on Thursday, May 25, in the double-elimination portion of the tournament. All games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats and  online audio from the Catamount Sports Network available at CatamountSports.com for every game WCU plays.
 
The 2023 SoCon baseball tournament runs May 24-28, and the winner earns the league's automatic bid to a NCAA Baseball Regional. Click HERE to buy tickets.
 
All eight Southern Conference teams will participate in the tournament, with seeds No. 5 and No. 8 participating in the first single-elimination game on Wednesday, May 24, at 3 p.m., and seeds No. 6 and No. 7 playing in a single-elimination game later that day at 7 p.m. for the right to advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket. The championship game will take place Sunday, May 28, at 12 p.m., with a second game, if necessary, to begin 40 minutes after the completion of the first contest.
 
During the regular season, Western Carolina dropped two of three at UNCG to open the conference slate March 24-26 in Greensboro, N.C. The Catamounts used a six-inning, seven strikeout relief effort by Nick Torres to take game one 10-4 as Torres limited the Spartans to just two base hits. UNCG rallied twice with a run in the eighth to force extra innings and a game-tying, two-out home run in the 10th to ultimately edge the Catamounts 5-4 in 12 innings in game two to even the best-of-three set.
 
In the series finale, WCU rallied from a 6-1 deficit with a three-run sixth inning and a four-run seventh to carry a two-run, 8-6 lead into the home half of the seventh. However, UNCG scored the game's final five runs with three in the seventh and two in the eighth to claim the series with an 11-8 victory.
 
Looking ahead to the potential Thursday match-up, WCU lost two of three against the Terriers in Cullowhee, preventing the sweep with a game two with a four-run rally over the final two innings with Cole Jones delivering the walk-off double in the ninth inning.
 
The SoCon tournament begins Wednesday with fifth-seeded VMI (26-28, 9-11 SoCon) taking on No. 8 The Citadel (22-29, 7-14) for the chance to advance to face No. 4 seed ETSU (25-27, 10-11) on Thursday at 3 p.m. The second single-elimination game follows with sixth-seeded UNCG (22-32, 9-12), the defending tournament champion, facing off against No. 7 seed Western Carolina (21-32, 8-12) for the chance to advance to face No. 3 seed Wofford (37-17, 12-9) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
Both regular-season champion and top-seed Samford (32-22, 15-6) and No. 2 seed Mercer see their first action at the tournament on Friday. Samford has won 10 of its last 13 games and secured its first No. 1 seed since 2019 after sweeping the Bears in the final regular-season series.
 
The SoCon Tournament schedule includes two games both Wednesday and Thursday at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday's slate features four games with the remaining teams competing in a trio of games on Saturday, which are scheduled for 12 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., setting the stage for Sunday's title game(s).
 
The Catamount Club will host a special Catamount Central at Mac's Speed Shop (930 S. Main Street; Greenville, S.C., 29601) ahead of each game WCU plays in the SoCon tournament. The pregame social is scheduled for two hours prior to scheduled first pitch of each game, beginning at 5 p.m., on Wednesday before the WCU-UNCG match-up.
 
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 Southern Conference Baseball Championship
Presented by Holston Gases | Fluor Field at the West End | Greenville, S.C.
 
May 24 (Wednesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 1: #5 VMI vs. #8 The Citadel, 3 p.m. 
Game 2: #6 UNCG vs. #7 Western Carolina, 7 p.m.
 
May 25 (Thursday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
 (Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. #4 ETSU, 3 p.m.
Game 4: Winner Game 2 vs. #3 Wofford, 7 p.m.
 
May 26 (Friday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
 (Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. #1 Samford, 9 a.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. #2 Mercer, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5, 4 p.m.
Game 8: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 6, 7:30 p.m. 
 
May 27 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
 (Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 12 p.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 3:30 p.m. 
Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 9, 7 p.m.
 
May 28 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 11, 12 p.m.
Game 13: Game 12 winner vs. Game 12 loser^, 40 minutes after Game 12
 
^ if necessary