Cullowhee, N.C. – Led by junior right-handed pitcher
Dusty Revis on the first team, five Catamounts landed on the 2025 Preseason All-Southern Conference Baseball team released on Thursday afternoon just a little over a week away from Opening Weekend.
Expected to move into the starting rotation from his heavy relief role a season ago, Revis was dubbed a first-team All-SoCon starting pitcher as four hurlers around the league garnered the first-team accolade. He was joined on the honorary preseason squad by four second-team selections including senior catcher
Jack Spyke, senior left-side infielders
Trent Turner and
Mason Holton, and junior outfielder
Hayden Friese. Three of WCU's five honorees were selected as team captains back in early December.
Revis is one of just two Catamounts who earned postseason All-SoCon honors last spring returning for the 2025 season, collecting second team plaudits where
Davis Budd joined him as a 2024 SoCon All-Freshman team honoree. The first-team preseason nod for Revis is the second accolade for the Marion, N.C., product ahead of the new season as the right-hander was dubbed preseason All-SoCon by Perfect Game, while also garnering the group's nod for SoCon Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
A transfer from Mars Hill ahead of last season, Revis climbed the mound 19 times in his first year in Cullowhee, twice as a starter with 17 relief appearances. One of 10 returning pitchers from last season, he led the Catamounts with a 7-1 seasonal record with a save and a 4.41 collective ERA over 51 total innings of work. Revis struck out 43 against just 19 walks, fanning four-or-more six times with punchouts in 17 of his 19 appearances. He also induced a team-best nine double plays.
Joining Revis on the preseason all-conference team is battery-mate senior catcher
Jack Spyke, a second-team honoree that shared the honor with Wofford's Lucas Manning. Entering his third season in a Catamount uniform after transferring from Winthrop, Spyke – who splits time behind the plate and at first base – has played in 100 games with 94 starts over the last two years. A .270 career hitter, Spyke batted .290 last year – raising his average 20 points over the last two weeks of the season, finishing with 49 hits including eight doubles, a triple, and three home runs, scoring 31 runs with 22 RBI.
Western Carolina's left-side of the infield in shortstop
Trent Turner and third-baseman
Mason Holton comprised half of the second-team infield selections.
Like Revis, Thursday's preseason All-SoCon nod is Turner's second ahead of 2025. He, too, was dubbed all-league by Perfect Game in the infield. Turner started all 54 games at shortstop last year, his first in Cullowhee after transferring from USC Union. He hit a steady .302 with his 71 base hits tying him for second on the Catamount squad in 2024. A product of Waynesville N.C., Turner collected 22 extra-base hits including 14 doubles – 16th in the SoCon – and hit eight home runs.
Turner appeared on the Brooks Wallace Watch List for the nation's top shortstop. He was part of flipping 38 double plays for the SoCon's top unit a season ago.
Holton played in 52 of WCU's 54 games last year with 50 starts at third base. He hit an even .300 with 51 base hits including 20 for extra-bases with 14 doubles and six home runs. He scored 46 runs while plating 40 including 12 multi-RBI efforts. Originally from Overland Park, Kansas, Holton walked 35 times and was plunked six times to bolster his .436 on-base percentage. The slick-fielding infielder recorded 38 putouts with 85 assists and was part of turning nine double-plays from the hot corner.
Rounding out the quintet of Catamounts recognized on Thursday, junior outfielder
Hayden Friese collected preseason second-team honors as an outfielder. The Eden, N.C., native played in 47 games as a sophomore with 41 starts including 38 in right field, twice as the designated hitter, and once in left field. He clocked a seasonal batting average of .290 on the season, though he carried an average above the .300 threshold into the final two weeks of the season. Friese tallied 40 base hits with nine extra-base knocks, seven doubles and two homers, hitting his first collegiate round-tripper against ETSU. As part of his .442 on-base percentage, he drew 34 walks and was plunked six times. Friese returns a team-best four stolen bases in four attempts from last year.
All eight league teams were represented on the preseason all-conference teams with all but one receiving a first-team selection and six of the eight squads with second-team honorees. A combined six ties in the voting led to extra selections to the preseason All-SoCon squads
Mercer outfielder Ty Dalley was dubbed the SoCon's Preseason Player of the Year with Michael Harpster of ETSU and UNCG's Rob Ready sharing the Preseason Pitcher of the Year honor. Dalley was a first-team All-SoCon selection at the end of the 2024 season, joined by Ready on the top postseason squad. Harpster was a second-team all-conference honoree at the end of his freshman season last spring.
Defending regular-season champion UNCG was picked to repeat as the SoCon champ by the conference's head coaches, edging out last season's runner-up Samford by two points in the polling. Last year's tournament champion as the No. 5 seed, Wofford, was pegged third just ahead of a two-way tie between both ETSU and Mercer. The Bucs finished in a third-place tie last season with the Bears as the No. 7 seed in the postseason tournament.
Tied with mountain-rival ETSU for third in last year's standings, Western Carolina was picked sixth by the league's head coaches this year, well ahead of The Citadel in seventh and VMI – sixth last season – tagged eighth in the preseason tabulation.
Western Carolina opens the 2025 season with a three-game road series at Georgia Southern as the Catamounts face former program player and coach, Rodney Hennon, at J.I. Clements Stadium on Feb. 14-16. Current head coach
Alan Beck and top assistant
Jeff Korte both coached alongside Hennon prior to coming to Cullowhee ahead of the 2023 season.
The Catamounts open their home schedule on Tuesday, Feb. 18, against USC Upstate to begin a four-game homestand that includes a three-game weekend set with Big Ten foe Maryland in the first meeting with the Terrapins since 2012.
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).
Preseason Player of the Year: Ty Dalley, MER
Preseason co-Pitcher of the Year: Michael Harpster (ETSU)/Rob Ready (UNCG)
Preseason First Team All-Southern Conference:
SP – Michael Harpster, ETSU
SP – Rob Ready, UNCG
SP –
Dusty Revis, Western Carolina
SP – Colton Cosper, Mercer
RP – Kenny Michaels, Wofford
RP – Grant Aycock, UNCG
RP – Jess Ackerman, Mercer
C – JD Yakubinis, ETSU
1B – Grayson Fitzwater, VMI
2B – Travis Elliot, The Citadel
SS – Bradley Frye, Mercer
3B – Cody Miller, ETSU
OF – Ty Dalley, Mercer
OF – David Wiley, Wofford
OF – Andrew Mannelly, Wofford
OF – Luke Holland, UNCG
DH – Trey Truitt, UNCG
Preseason Second Team All-Southern Conference:
SP – Hunter Shuey, UNCG
SP – Miller Riggins, Samford
SP – Dylan Rhadans, Wofford
RP – Evan Steckmesser, Samford
RP – Alec Bauchard, Wofford
RP – Champ Davis, Wofford
RP – Daniel Thompson, UNCG
C –
Jack Spyke, Western Carolina
C – Lucas Manning, Wofford
1B – Tyler Hare, Wofford
2B – Jeffrey Ince, Samford
SS –
Trent Turner, Western Carolina
3B –
Mason Holton, Western Carolina
OF – Owen Prince, VMI
OF –
Hayden Friese, Western Carolina
OF – Blake Jacklin, ETSU
OF – Jamie Palmese, ETSU
DH – Will Smoot, ETSU
Southern Conference Preseason Coaches Poll:
1. UNCG (3) – 40 pts
2. Samford (3) – 38 pts
3. Wofford (1) – 34 pts
t-4. ETSU (1) – 30 pts
t-4. Mercer – 30 pts
6. Western Carolina – 25 pts
7. The Citadel – 14 pts
8. VMI – 13 pts
