Cullowhee, N.C. – Twenty-seven home dates spread between 11 different opponents comprise half of Western Carolina's 55-game 2025 baseball schedule unveiled today by third-year head coach
Alan Beck. The Catamounts' schedule includes a pair of teams that advanced into last year's NCAA tournament while also featuring the rekindling of three series for the first time in over a decade with one first-time foe when the Panthers of Eastern Illinois providing the opposition in mid-March.
WCU's four-month gauntlet opens in Statesboro, Ga., against a familiar former league foe in Georgia Southern in the first three of its 27-game road slate, and culminates on Memorial Day weekend with the 2025 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases and again held at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, S.C.
"From my time as a player through my coaching career, I strongly believe in playing a tough schedule outside of the conference to best prepare our players for the competitive Southern Conference season. My coaching staff and I have worked to put together a challenging schedule this season," said Beck. "With this schedule, our guys know that they'll have to show up every day to be successful. The team put in a lot of work this semester and can't wait for the spring season to get started."
Including its seven-series, 21-game Southern Conference slate, the Catamounts play teams representing a combined seven conferences. Four Big South Conference opponents comprise a large portion of the nonconference slate including a trio of midweek home-and-home games against USC Upstate, mountain-rival UNC Asheville, and Presbyterian that includes two home dates. WCU also plays Gardner-Webb four times including a pair of home and two road games.
Three Sun Belt Conference squads dot the schedule beginning with the season-opening road series at Georgia Southern, which is led by former Catamount player and head coach Rodney Hennon and also employed both Beck and current assistant coach
Jeff Korte. It's the first meeting between the two former SoCon foes since 2014. WCU also has a three-game series at Georgia State, marking the first series meetings in Atlanta since 2004, and has a home-and-home against archrival Appalachian State.
The Catamounts' 2025 schedule additionally features a pair of Big Ten Conference foes when Maryland comes to Cullowhee for just the second series meeting and first since 2012. WCU meets Michigan State at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., again the site of the SoCon Baseball Championship in May.
Rounding out the competition conferences are schools from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) when Rider comes to town for an early season four-game set – the first meetings since 2014. Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) member Eastern Illinois ventures into Hennon Stadium for the first-ever meetings, and the Catamounts return to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech in early May, rekindling a series for the first time since 2019.
Western Carolina's seven-week SoCon schedule includes three series at home and four coming on the road. VMI (March 21-23), defending champion Wofford (April 17-19), and The Citadel (May 9-11) all come to Cullowhee. The Catamounts travel to Mercer (March 28-30), ETSU (April 11-13), Samford (April 25-27), and UNCG (May 15-17) to close the regular season.
Despite opening with three straight games against the Eagles away from the friendly confines of Childress Field / Hennon Stadium, a combined eight of Western Carolina's first 12 games will be played in Cullowhee as the Catamounts welcome nonconference foes USC Upstate (Feb. 18), Maryland (Feb. 21-13), and Rider (Feb. 28-March 2) to western North Carolina. WCU and Maryland have faced off just once before coming back in 2012, while Rider comes to Cullowhee for four games for the first meetings since 2014. The home-and-home series with USC Upstate comes in February, in Cullowhee on Feb. 18 and in Spartanburg on Feb. 26 to interrupt WCU's eight home dates in the season's opening month.
WCU's 19-game March schedule features 11 home dates including the season's longest homestand with eight-straight dates at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium against Eastern Illinois (March 14-16), Presbyterian (March 18), the opening of league play against VMI (March 21-23), and the frontend of the nonconference home-and-home with mountain-rival UNC Asheville (March 25). The Catamounts close the month at Mercer (March 28-30).
April opens with five consecutive games out of league play between two opponents. WCU bookends the five-game set against archrival App State, at home on April 1 and in Boone on April 8. Between, the Catamounts have a three-game weekend set against Gardner-Webb with April 5-6 played at home with Sunday's finale in Boiling Springs on April 6.
The month continues with weekend conference series at ETSU (April 11-13) and Samford (April 24-27), with one home series against Wofford (April 17-19). Midweek contests include meetings with Presbyterian in Clinton, S.C. (April 15), at UNC Asheville (April 23), and a fourth meeting – and third home date – against Gardner-Webb on April 29.
May opens with the three-game series against ACC-foe Georgia Tech (May 2-4) ahead of the backend of the home-and-home with Presbyterian (May 7). WCU's final home SoCon series sees the two most successful baseball programs in the SoCon all-time square off as The Citadel comes to Cullowhee May 9-11 with a pair of evening games highlighting graduation weekend. WCU concludes the regular season at in-state conference rival UNCG (May 15-17).
The 2025 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases runs May 21 through May 25 (if necessary) at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., home of the Boston Red Sox affiliate Greenville Drive.
Season tickets for the 26-game home baseball schedule at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium are on sale NOW and start at just $51 for adult general admission or $26 for youth general admission. Additional seating options include reserved field-level chair back seats and upper-reserved chair backs under cover beneath the press box. Tickets can be purchased in person through the first-floor Athletics Ticket Office in the Ramsey Center, by phone at (828) 227-2401, or online at
CatamountSports.com/BuyTickets.
Single-game tickets will go on sale to the public in mid-January ahead of the season-opening weekend in mid-February.
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).
