Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina begins its quest for an 11th tournament crown on Wednesday evening as it opens play in the 2023 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases against defending tournament champion UNC Greensboro at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C.
 
The seventh-seeded Catamounts face the No. 6 seed Spartans in the second of two single-elimination games with a Thursday evening date with third-seeded Wofford awaiting the winner in the double-elimination portion of the postseason tournament. The winner of the SoCon championship garners the league's automatic bid to an NCAA regional.
 
Each game of the 2023 SoCon Baseball Tournament will be available on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live streaming audio free from the Catamount Sports Network, as well as a link to live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Western Carolina (21-32, 8-12 SoCon) dropped its final three regular-season games at No. 10 Oregon State but enters tournament play with wins in four of its last eight games including taking its final league series against The Citadel at home May 12-14. UNCG (22-32, 9-12) heads to the Upstate of South Carolina having lost six of its final seven games of the regular season including four against Power Five competition in Wake Forest and Ohio State before dropping 2-of-3 in its final SoCon series at ETSU last weekend.
 
Two All-Southern Conference selections and a trio of all-freshman team honorees announced earlier on Tuesday afternoon will be on display in the nightcap of the tournament's opening day. WCU shortstop Pascanel Ferreras and UNCG outfielder Kennedy Jones were both All-SoCon first-teamers with Catamount freshman RHP Ryan White joined by UNCG right-handed pitchers Julien Peissel and Luke Thomas on the all-rookie team. Jones leads UNCG with the ninth-best batting average in the SoCon during the regular season at .359, finishing the year with 14 home runs. Ferreras batted .325 with 16 doubles and 12 homers and was tied for fourth in the league with a team-high 53 RBI.
 
With the most recent meeting coming in UNCG's run to the conference championship in 2022 – a 9-7 UNCG win – the Catamounts and Spartans have met six times previously in the SoCon tournament with WCU trailing 2-4. WCU downed top-seeded UNCG twice in the 2018 tournament in Greenville, outscoring the Spartans 18-to-6 in the two meetings during an improbable run to the semifinals as the No. 9 seed.
 
The two North Carolina-based SoCon schools met back in late March to raise the curtain on the 2023 conference schedule in Greensboro. The Catamounts claimed the SoCon opener by a 10-4 count and twice led in game two before UNCG edged the Purple & Gold 5-4 in 12 innings to force a Sunday rubber match. In the finale, WCU rallied from a 6-1 deficit to claim an 8-6 lead in the top of the seventh inning before the Spartans scored the game's final five runs in winning the series with an 11-8 Sunday victory.
 
Over the three-game set in Greensboro, WCU managed to out-hit UNCG with a .308 (36-of-117) batting average against a .278 (30-for-108) mark for the Spartans. Both teams collected nine extra-base hits in the series including both with six doubles with WCU homering twice with a triple and the Spartans hitting a trio of homers. On the mound, the Catamounts struck out 25 against 20 K's by UNCG pitchers.
 
WCU trails in the all-time series history with UNCG 37-47 with the Spartans having won eight of the last 10 head-to-head meetings dating back to 2021.
 
The 2023 SoCon tournament opens Wednesday with a 3 p.m. match-up between fifth-seeded VMI and No. 8 seed The Citadel at 3 p.m. in the first of two single-elimination games with the WCU-UNCG game to follow. Thursday's schedule includes the VMI-Citadel winner facing fourth-seeded ETSU at 3 p.m., and the winner between the Catamounts and Spartans facing No. 3 Wofford at 7 p.m. Friday's full day of action includes four games beginning at 9 a.m. with top-seeded Samford, which is seeking its second title in three years, playing its first game with No. 2 seed Mercer opening tournament play at 12:30 p.m.
 
The Catamount Club will host a special Catamount Central gathering 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 before the scheduled first pitch of each game, beginning at 5 p.m., on Wednesday before the WCU-UNCG opening-round match-up.
 
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