Cullowhee, N.C. – A rivalry rekindled, and a friendship reunited are among the top storylines as Western Carolina baseball opens 2025 this weekend with a three-game set against longtime rival Georgia Southern down in Statesboro, Ga., as a pair of Catamount baseball alums meet for a season-opening three-game nonconference series.
 
Long-time Georgia Southern skipper Rodney Hennon and Catamount third-year head coach Alan Beck meet for the first time on the diamond since Beck left the nest in Statesboro after 2022 to assume a role Hennon held back in the late 1990s as the head coach of the Western Carolina program.
 
First pitch of Friday's season-opener at J.I. Clements Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with Saturday slated for 2 p.m. and a 1 p.m. start on Sunday. This weekend's games will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live streaming audio from the Georgia Southern Sports Network also available online through The Varsity Network app. Live stats are available online through links at CatamountSports.com.
 
Projected Pitching Matchups:
Friday (6:30 p.m.): WCU – RHP Dusty Revis vs. GS – RHP Kade Grundy
Saturday (2 p.m.): WCU – RHP Mason Holton vs. GS – LHP Jacob Phillips
Sunday (1 p.m.): WCU – LHP Davis Wright vs. GS – LHP Thomas Burke
* Check CatamountSports.com and social media through TwitterX (@CatamountBSB) for any weather-related schedule changes.
 
Weekend Weather Forecasts – Statesboro, Ga. (As of Feb. 13):
Friday – Mainly sunny, High around 60
Saturday – Overcast but warm, High around 73
Sunday – Rain early... then cloudy with afternoon showers (90%), High around 64
 
About Western Carolina:
After finishing tied for third in the 2024 Southern Conference race, Western Carolina looks to continue its forward progress this season after making a seven-game turnaround last spring. The team's 28 victories were the most for the Catamounts since 2017 as WCU won at least one game against every league opponent, sweeping Mercer at home and The Citadel in Charleston while winning league road series at Wofford and VMI. Despite losing a good portion of its offensive power from last year, WCU's coaches remain optimistic with an ever-improving pitching staff and one of the top defensive units in the league.
 
The Catamounts were picked sixth in the preseason SoCon Coaches polling and landed five players on the preseason All-SoCon squads. Friday night starter Dusty Revis was a first-team All-SoCon pick and was joined on the second team by junior outfielder Hayden Friese, senior utility player Jak Spyke, and the left side of the infield in SS Trent Turner and 3B Mason Holton, who will also climb atop the mound to start Saturday's game two, making his first pitching appearance for the Catamounts.
 
Turner and Holton return as WCU's lone two that hit over the .300 threshold a season ago combining for 122 hits including 28 doubles, 14 home runs, and 85 RBI. That duo is also part of five returning starters from opening weekend a year ago, flanked by outfielders Friese and Cole Jones, with Spyke splitting time behind the plate and at first base.
 
Under Alan Beck, WCU is 5-2 on Opening Weekend over the past two seasons. Last year, the Catamounts swept their first three-game series of the year in 2024, taking three from the Iona Gales in Cullowhee before venturing to Florida State. In Beck's first year in 2023, the Catamounts split four games evenly with Akron in mid-February.
 
Scouting the Opponent – Georgia Southern:
A runner-up finish in last year's Sun Belt Conference Championship was the highlight of 2024 for the Georgia Southern Eagles as the Rodney Hennon-led squad finished 33-26 overall and 17-13 in Sun Belt Conference play. GS was just three outs away from winning the Sun Belt crown proving the adage of finding the best play in May at the conference championship.
 
Georgia Southern was picked fifth in the 14-team preseason Sun Belt Conference Coaches Poll and landed one player – junior outfielder Josh Tate – on the preseason all-conference team. Hitting in the leadoff spot last spring, Tate hit a team-best .369 last year with 86 hits including 19 for extra-bases with 14 doubles, a triple, and four home runs, earning a second-team All-Sun Belt Conference honor as a utility player.
 
This year's Georgia Southern roster is nearly split in half – 21 returners and 20 newcomers including 13 transfers and seven true freshmen. Among the returning players, three Eagles – Sean White, JD Kaiser, and Cade Parker – return after combining for 28 homers and 110 RBI a year ago. Among the transfers from the SEC (Missouri, South Carolina) and from ACC-member Georgia Tech.
 
Familiar Faces:
Both sides of the diamond are very familiar with one another as two Western Carolina alumni bring their respective squads into Opening Weekend. Catamount third-year head coach Alan Beck was recruited to Western Carolina University by Rodney Hennon and former GS assistant coach Mike Tidick – but never played for the two as Statesboro came calling before Beck's freshman season. Hennon is now the longest-tenured head coach in Georgia Southern baseball history.
 
Most recently, Beck and hitting coach Jeff Korte were a part of Hennon's perennial success at Georgia Southern, both serving on the baseball staff in southern Georgia before making the trek to Cullowhee – Beck to come home and Korte in his first time through Jackson County. Beck was alongside Hennon from 2016 through 2022.
 
Likewise, Hennon is very familiar with Cullowhee having played and earned his coaching start at Western Carolina University. He served as an assistant coach before being selected as WCU's head coach in 1998, a position he held for two seasons before heading to Statesboro.
 
Familiar Faces – Part Two:
Western Carolina baseball is truly woven into the region forming a long purple line through its history and tradition. Georgia Southern's Friday night starter Kade Grundy – a name that should quickly resonate with many Catamount fans – is the son of Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Famer and 1993 All-America selection, Phillip Grundy (1991-93). A two-time All-SoCon selection, the elder Grundy spent three seasons in Cullowhee, drafted in the fourth round by the Kansas City Royals with the organization's second overall pick.
 
In his first season in Statesboro, Kade Grundy pitched three seasons at Louisville before transferring to Georgia Southern this season. He has a career 6.39 ERA with 53 strikeouts and a .258 opponent batting average against.
 
Western Carolina vs. Georgia Southern – The Series:
Though the series has lain dormant for more than a decade – 11 years, in fact – Western Carolina and Georgia Southern were two of the premier teams in a baseball-rich Southern Conference for many seasons, fueling the two-state rivalry. With a series dating back to 1970, the Catamounts trail the Eagles 51-58 all-time with Friday's rekindling of the rivalry marking the 110th all-time series meeting. WCU trails in the series in Statesboro, 22-39, all-time, last meeting back in 2014.
 
During its membership from 1993 through 2013, Georgia Southern won five SoCon regular-season championships during its tenure in the league and six tournament crowns including its last in 2014. The Catamounts and Eagles twice met to decide the conference crown. First, in 1992, top-seeded WCU edged Georgia Southern, 4-3 in the winner-take-all final after the Eagles forced the "if necessary" game.
 
Back in 2003, the Catamounts walked off a championship win over GS in an epic 6-5 win in 11 innings as Denver Edick singled home Rod Goldston with the game-winning unearned run after Goldston singled and took second on a throwing error to move into scoring position with two out.
 
On Deck for the Catamounts:
After a three-game set in Georgia, the Catamounts return home to open a four-game homestand beginning next Tuesday, Feb. 18, by hosting the front of a nonconference home-and-home with USC Upstate at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium. As will be the case with all home weekday games until the start of conference play, the first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. The two teams won't have to wait long for the return trip as WCU travels to Upstate on Feb. 26.
 
WCU's first weekend series has Big Ten foe Maryland coming to Cullowhee for a three-game series Feb. 21-23. It's the first trip for the Terrapins to Cullowhee and the first three-game set between the two. The only other meeting came in tournament action at East Carolina back in 2012 at the Keith LeClair Classic, a 3-0 win for the Terps in Greenville, N.C.
 
Both season and single-game tickets for WCU's 26-game home baseball slate at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium are on sale now and start at just $51 for adult general admission and $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.
 
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).