Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina head baseball coach Alan Beck announced the squad's five captains for the upcoming 2025 season as voted on by the players including four seniors and one redshirt junior. Senior utility player Jack Spyke along with the infield tandem of senior Trent Turner and Mason Holton are joined by redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Cannon Pickell and battery-mate in redshirt junior catcher Cam Murray as captains for this upcoming season.
 
Entering his third year in a Catamount uniform, utility player Jack Spyke – who splits time behind the plate and at first base at WCU – has played in 100 games over the past two seasons since transferring to Cullowhee from Winthrop. He is a .270 hitter over those two seasons with 20 extra-base hits including 14 doubles, a triple, and five home runs. He has added 41 walks and 10 HBPs to bolster his 36 percent on-base percentage. The Lawrenceville, Ga., product has scored 66 runs while driving in 49.
 
Spyke is a two-time SoCon Academic Honor Roll recipient and was named to the 2024 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team.
 
A transfer ahead of last season, infielder Mason Holton played in 52 of WCU's 54 games a season ago making 50 starts at third base. He batted .300 in 2024 with 51 hits including 20 for extra-bases with 14 doubles and six homers. The Overland Park, Kansas, product added 35 walks and six HBPs as part of a 43.6 on-base percentage. He finished with 40 RBI including a team-high tying 19 with two outs. In the field, Holton recorded 38 putouts and 85 assists.
 
Anchoring the left side of the infield with Holton, senior infielder Trent Turner has been a quiet leader for the Catamounts since transferring from USC Union before last season. A local product from Waynesville, Turner started all 54 games at shortstop, batting .302 with his 71 base hits tying for second on the squad. He finished with 22 extra-base hits including 14 doubles and eight home runs. Turner finished third on the team with 19 multi-hit games and multiple RBI 12 times.
 
On the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List for the nation's top shortstop, Turner was also selected to the 2024 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team and named to the 2023-24 SoCon Academic Honor Roll.
 
Redshirt senior Cannon Pickell returned to the rotation after missing 2023 with injury making 12 appearances with a pair of starts and 10 in relief. The experienced, hard-throwing right-hander posted strikeouts in five of his 12 seasonal appearances, striking out nine on the season. Pickell is a two-time SoCon Academic Honor Roll recipient.
 
Rounding out WCU's quintet is redshirt junior catcher Cam Murray. The only captain elected that isn't a senior, the Fredericksburg, Va., product enters his fourth season in Cullowhee having played in 61 games with 24 starts. Four of his 10 career base hits have been for extra bases with three doubles, and he belted his first career home run a season ago against Georgia State. Murray has been selected to the SoCon Academic Honor Roll thrice since 2022.
 
Western Carolina's 2025 schedule will be released later this week, when season tickets for each of the Catamount home games will also go on sale. Season tickets for the 26-game home baseball schedule at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium 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.
 
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