Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball split Saturday's weather-altered doubleheader with league-leading Samford, scoring a 12-2 win in seven innings to even the best-of-three series in the opener before the Bulldogs rallied in the eighth inning of the finale to escape with the 8-7 victory and a series win at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
 
The Catamounts outscored Samford 19-to-10 in Saturday's twin bill while out-slugging the Bulldogs 26-to-14 with 10 extra-base hits – five doubles and five home runs. But combined with Friday's 6-4 win in the opener, the visitors claimed the road conference series win.
 
Six Catamounts collected three or more hits between the two games with Hayden Friese (4-for-6) and Trent Turner (4-for-9) leading the way with four hits apiece. Friese had four singles as a part of reaching base seven times in the doubleheader with two walks and an HBP. Turner doubled and homered among his four base knocks, adding a base on balls.
 
Zach Ketterman reached base six times with a trio of hits including his second three-run home run of the weekend and walking three times. The Catamounts also received home runs from Nate Stocum for his team-leading 16th of the season, a two-run blast by Kyle Riesselmann, and a game-ending two-run homer by Jack Spyke at the end of game one. Drew Needham also doubled twice for the home squad.
 
Game One – Western Carolina 12, Samford 2 (7 inn.)
Western Carolina evened its best-of-three conference series in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, powering past Samford offensively while muzzling the Bulldogs' offense in scoring the 12-2 win in seven innings.
 
Pitchers Dante Visconti (3-0) and Dusty Revis combined to limit Samford to two runs on just three hits with five strikeouts against two combined walks in the seven-inning victory. Visconti tossed three 1-2-3 innings among the five he toed the rubber, benefiting from a pair of defensive double-plays by his infield. Revis faced just one over the minimum in his two innings of relief before the WCU offense ended the game early.
 
Three Catamounts finished with two-hit efforts as Zach Ketterman (2-for-3) belted a three-run home run as a part of driving in four to lead the squad. James Hinson (2-for-4) doubled and plated a run on a sacrifice fly, while Trent Turner (2-for-5) hit a solo homer for one of his two RBI.
 
Samford's three hits were scattered between three players with Lucas Steele leading off the fifth with a solo homer and Josh Rodriguez lacing an RBI double down the third-base line to account for the two Bulldog runs.
 
Turner's run-scoring single to left center to plate Kyle Riesselmann gave the Catamounts a lead they would never relinquish with Hinson handing WCU the 2-0 lead after one with a sacrifice fly to left field.
 
After the Rodriguez RBI double pulled the guests to within one, the Catamounts broke the game open with a four-run fourth. With Drew Needham and Mason Holton aboard, Ketterman hit his second three-run home run of the series on a blast to right center. Turner capped the scoring two batters later with a solo home run to center that made it 6-1.
 
Samford pushed across its second marker in the top of the fifth as Steele collected a lead-off home run to make it a four-run affair. However, WCU responded with three straight two-run innings to end the game. Stocum plated two on a single in the fifth with Ketterman collecting his fourth RBI of the opener on a run-scoring single in the sixth. Riesselmann later swiped home on a delayed double-steal as Ketterman stole second for the 10-2 edge.
 
Jack Spyke ended game two early on his lone tally of the game, blasting a two-run homer to left to hit the 10-run threshold.
 
Samford starter Heath Clevenger (1-2) was saddled with the loss after giving up two runs on just one hit with a pair of walks over two-thirds of an inning. Noah Berry struck out three and Josh Whitney two as the only Bulldog arms to toss more than an inning. Each of the five Samford pitchers surrendered at least two runs apiece.
 
Saturday's game one marked just the fourth time this season that the Bulldogs had been run-ruled in a losing effort – the first in SoCon play.
 
Game Two – Samford 8, Western Carolina 7
Trailing 5-4 through five complete, Kyle Riesselmann belted a go-ahead, two-run home run for the Catamounts in the bottom of the sixth inning with Hayden Friese plating a third marker on a sacrifice fly to hand Western Carolina a 7-5 lead.
 
However, Samford answered WCU's three-spot with a trio of runs of its own in the top of the eighth inning coming on back-to-back, two-out home runs to pull off the 8-7 victory to split the twin bill and win the series. Garrett Staton hit the game-tying two-run shot ahead of Garrett Howe with the winning solo homer
 
Behind after the three runs scored in the top of the eighth, WCU put two runners aboard in the home half on a Nate Stocum walk and a single by Trent Turner. However, an inning-ending double-play squashed the rally. Mason Holton reached on a one-out single in the ninth, but consecutive strikeouts including the 27th out recorded looking ended the series.
 
Riesselmann (2-for-5) drove in three of the Catamount runs with Friese (3-for-4) accounting for two RBI with a first-inning single and a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Friese led the team with his three singles. Stocum reached base three times, adding a walk to his double and solo home run with Drew Needham reaching twice with a double and a run-scoring walk in the third inning.
 
Held to just three hits in the opener, Samford recorded 11 in game two with four players collecting multiple hits. Staton (2-for-5) drove in two on his eighth-inning homer with Howe (3-for-3) reaching base five times with four runs scored. He singled twice and hit the game-winning home run and drew a pair of walks.
 
The two teams combined for nine runs over the opening four frames of the finale with the Catamounts taking a trio of one-run leads over the opening third. Steele's two-run home run in the fourth handed the Bulldogs the lead ahead of Riesselmann's sixth-inning heroics set up the back-to-back home run finish in the eighth.
 
Jonathan Todd (1-1) was saddled with the loss, surrendering three runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Davis Budd started but did not factor into the decision, scattering seven hits over four innings while working around three walks with four strikeouts. Riesselmann struck out one in tossing a hitless, scoreless final inning and a third, vacating centerfield to hit the mound.
 
Samford's Jake Holifield (4-1), the fourth arm used by the Bulldogs, collected the victory after striking out three in two innings of one-hit, scoreless relief. Carson Lore (6) picked up his second save of the weekend, fanning two against a walk and two hits over two scoreless innings. Reliever Turner Thompson set Samford up out of the bullpen, working around four walks and three hits to strikeout five over a team-long three-inning effort after starter Alex Flood was lifted after two innings.
 
Western Carolina (21-16, 6-6 SoCon) is scheduled to play its next four games away from home, traveling to Knoxville on Tuesday (April 23) for a 6 p.m. matchup with the nationally ranked Tennessee Volunteers (32-7) at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Catamounts return to SoCon play next weekend, traveling to Spartanburg, S.C., for a three-game series against Wofford (26-11, 7-4 SoCon). The Terriers split two games with Mercer over the weekend with the finale rained out in Macon, Ga.
 
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