Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball returns to action in Southern Conference play this weekend as the Catamounts travel to Spartanburg, S.C., to face the Wofford Terriers in a three-game league series at Russell C. King Field.
 
The three-game league set gets underway Friday at 5:30 p.m. and continues Saturday at 2 p.m. before concluding Sunday at 1 p.m. The first and third games of the series set for Friday and Sunday are scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with Wofford's live stats available for all three games online at CatamountSports.com.
 
About Western Carolina:
Western Carolina (21-17, 6-6 SoCon) looks to get back into the win column in league play on the road with the weekend set at Wofford. WCU dropped 2-of-3 to both UNCG and Samford most recently at home in a pair of conference series – but swept The Citadel in its lone three-game road SoCon series back on March 28-30. The Catamounts have dropped five of their last eight games overall including a mid-week loss at No. 3 Tennessee on Tuesday – but among the squad's three wins was a 12-2, 7-inning run-ruled victory over league-leading Samford, handing the Bulldogs just their second loss in SoCon play this season.
 
The Catamounts enter the week ranked fifth in the SoCon with a team .293 batting average with 388 hits including 96 doubles – tied for the most in the league – with five triples and 57 home runs, the fourth-most in the SoCon. WCU has scored 304 runs over 38 games, averaging eight runs per contest coming on 10.2 hits per game.
 
Six WCU regulars are batting above the .300 threshold led by senior infielder Zach Ketterman with a .348 mark including 46 hits – 15 for extra bases with five doubles, two triples, and eight home runs. Classmate Nate Stocum is batting ..333 (50-for-150) with 30 hits for extra bases – 14 doubles and 16 home runs, both ranking him second among the league leaders. The two WCU seniors are joined by Hayden Friese (.326), Mason Holton (.308), Kyle Riesselmann (.304), and Trent Turner (.302) batting above .300 with Turner pacing the squad with 51 hits on the year.
 
Among WCU's pitching, Gavin Mortenson and Jonathan Todd lead the way with collective ERAs of 3.92 and 3.16, respectively, with Mortenson starting eight of his 15 appearances with Todd entering 16 times in relief recording six saves. The duo have combined for 77 total strikeouts – 39 by Mortenson over 41.1 innings with Todd fanning 38 over 25.2 innings. Four additional Catamount pitchers have 20+ strikeouts on the year – Davis Budd (28), Dusty Revis (28), Dante Visconti (26), and Ryan White (24).
 
The Catamounts continue to pace the Southern Conference with 43 combined double plays turned this season – a mark that ranks the squad tied for second nationally while the 1.13 double plays per game average leads the NCAA.
 
WCU's Active Hitting Streaks:
Nate Stocum – 13 games
Kyle Riesselmann – 3 games
Drew Needham – 3 games
 
WCU's Active Reached Base Safely Streaks:
Nate Stocum – 13 games
Zach Ketterman – 12 games
Drew Needham – 4 games
Kyle Riesselmann – 3 games
Trent Turner – 3 games
 
Catamount Awards & Honors:

• Western Carolina senior infielder Zach Ketterman repeated as the Southern Conference Baseball Player of the Week, collecting honors for games played April 9-14 and most recently for games April 15-21 … In earning his first honor, Ketterman batted .471 with three home runs and a walk-off, game-winning single against UNCG … Last week, Ketterman batted .571 with a pair of three-run home runs as part of eight RBI;
• Senior RHP Jonathan Todd appeared on the midseason watch list for the 2024 Stopper of the Year Award handed out by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) … Todd enters the weekend with a 3.16 ERA over 17 appearances, 16 in relief … Over his 25.2 innings of work, he's recorded 38 strikeouts and posted a 1-1 record with six saves;
• Junior transfer infielder Trent Turner was named to the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award, an honor presented annually to the top shortstop in the NCAA … Turner was among 100 infielders on the list … A product of Waynesville, N.C., Turner is batting .302 with a team-best 51 hits including 18 for extra bases – 11 doubles and seven home runs … He is second in the SoCon with 109 assists while leading the league as a part of 33 double plays; 

About Wofford:
The Terriers enter the week with a SoCon-leading .344 collective team batting average that includes a league-best 456 base hits including 150 for extra bases – 78 doubles, a SoCon-leading and NCAA-leading 24 triples, and 48 home runs. Wofford also ranks second in the SoCon – and fourth nationally – with 113 stolen bases and leads the country with an average of 11.1 runs scored per game.
 
All nine of Wofford's regulars are batting above the .300 threshold, paced by Brice Martinez with a SoCon-leading .406 average that includes a league-best 63 base hits including a dozen doubles, three triples, and four home runs. All told, three Terriers rank among the SoCon's Top 5 in batting average with Dixon Black (.394) and Marshall Toole (.393) ranked third and fourth, respectively, with Toole leading the league with seven triples. Lucas Manning also paces the conference in on-base percentage (.549).
 
As a staff, Wofford ranks third in collective team ERA at 5.49 overall with the second-most strikeouts in the SoCon at 330 as a staff including 80 looking while limiting opponents to a league-low .265 batting average against.
 
Wofford was picked to finish third in the preseason SoCon coaches poll and received a first-place vote. Three Terriers landed on the preseason second-team All-SoCon including starting pitcher Zac Cowan, and infielders Brice Martinez and Jack Renwick.
 
Western Carolina vs. Wofford – All-Time Series:
The Catamounts and Terriers have met 105 times previously on the baseball diamond with WCU leading the series, 76-28-1, including a series lead in Spartanburg of 31-13-1. WCU has won five of the last 10 series meetings with Wofford winning four and the two tying once. Wofford took 2-of-3 from WCU last season in Cullowhee.
 
The most recent three-game series in Spartanburg was split evenly – the Terriers won game one, 15-4, before the Catamounts evened the series with a 9-2 victory on Saturday. Sunday's finale was marred by a pair of long weather delays before a final stoppage in the 11 o'clock hour halted the game in the eighth inning resulting in a 2-2 tie.
 
2024 Catamount Baseball – Western Carolina at Wofford (Russell C. King Field)
 
Friday, April 26 | 5:30 p.m. | Spartanburg, S.C. | Coverage: ESPN+  |  LiveStats
WCU: Sr. RHP Gavin Mortenson (15 app., 8 GS – 2-3, 3.92 ERA, 41.1 IP, 39 K, 25 BB)
WOF: Zac Cowan (10 app., 10 GS – 5-1, 3.29 ERA, 63.0 IP, 79 K 18 BB)
 
Saturday, April 27 | 2 p.m. | Spartanburg, S.C. | Coverage: LiveStats
WCU: Sr. RHP Dante Visconti (16 app., 4 GS – 3-0, 6.21 ERA, 33.1 IP, 26 K, 16 BB)
WOF: RHP Camden Wicker (10 app., 3 GS – 2-1, 3.19 ERA, 42.1 IP, 36 K, 10 BB)
 
Sunday, April 28 | 1 p.m. | Spartanburg, S.C. | Coverage: ESPN+  |  LiveStats
WCU: Fr. RHP Davis Budd (11 app., 5 GS – 1-1, 7.62 ERA, 28.1 IP, 28 K, 14 BB)
WOF: TBA
 
On-Deck for Western Carolina:
Following this weekend's three games in Spartanburg, the Catamounts make a short stop at home to host Big South Conference preseason favorite USC Upstate in the backend of a nonconference home-and-home. WCU then remains out of league play when it visits nationally-ranked Wake Forest in Winston-Salem next weekend for three games over two days, May 4-5.
 
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