Cullowhee, N.C. – Two offensive-minded clubs meet at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium this weekend for the opening act of their respective 2025 Southern Conference schedules as Western Carolina hosts the VMI Keydets for a three-game league series. The action opens on Friday with a 5 p.m. first pitch ahead of a 2 p.m. start on Saturday. Sunday's series finale is slated for an earlier first pitch at Noon to conclude the three-game set.
 
Friday evening's opener and Sunday's series finale will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). For Saturday's middle game of the SoCon series, live-streaming audio from the Catamount Sports Network on CatamountSports.com will be available. Each game will have live stats coverage through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Saturday's activities include a pregame Fan Fest and Little League Day, presented by Todd Baucom Realty of Cullowhee, beginning at 1 p.m. in the grass behind the first-base dugout. Festivities include inflatable yard toys and food trucks selling a variety of pregame cuisine.
 
Starting Lineup:
The top two scoring teams in the SoCon – VMI (247 runs, 11.8 per game) and Western Carolina (190, 9.0 per game) with two of the top three batting averages – WCU (.327, t-1st) and VMI (.325, 3rd) – meet to open league play after the two squads met to close conference play a season ago in Lexington.
 
The two teams have similar extra-base hit numbers – 75 for the Keydets with 39 doubles, six, triples, and tied for second with 30 home runs while WCU has 74 including the second-most doubles at 46, six triples, and 22 homers. VMI has drawn an NCAA and SoCon-leading 188 walks to bolster the nation's top on-base percentage (.497).
 
The biggest and most glaring difference, though, comes in stolen bases where the Keydets have 100 more thefts than the Catamounts, 122-to-22. VMI's absurd theft tally (122) leads the NCAA by 42 over second-place Wofford (80), also hailing from the SoCon. The Keydets average a nation-leading 5.81 stolen bases per game and boast six of the top seven individual steal totals in the league.
 
Six of the eight SoCon teams open their conference schedules this weekend with VMI visiting Cullowhee and WCU, Samford travels to Johnson City, Tenn., to face ETSU, and Mercer heads to Charleston, S.C., to meet The Citadel. Wofford (vs. Villanova) and UNCG (vs. UConn) both play out of conference this week.
 
The Catamounts are 8-4 at home this season while VMI is 4-4 away from Lexington this season including losses in four of their last five off post.
 
Projected Pitching Matchups:
Friday – WCU: RHP Dusty Revis (1-2, 6.20 ERA) vs. VMI: RHP Evan Parmer (2-0, 2.04 ERA)
Saturday – WCU: LHP Davis Wright (1-2, 4.32 ERA) vs. VMI: RHP Caden Plummer (3-2, 2.53 ERA)
Sunday – WCU: RHP Cannon Pickell (0-0, 6.55 ERA) vs. VMI: TBA
 
About Western Carolina: 
Western Carolina (10-11) has won three of its last four, taking two from Eastern Illinois before downing Presbyterian in the midweek. The Catamounts open their SoCon slate at home for the second-straight year, winning the opening game against ETSU last spring but dropping the series, 2-1. WCU has won its league opener in back-to-back years, defeating UNCG in Greensboro back in 2023.

The Catamounts enter the week tied for the SoCon lead batting average (.327), with a league-best 242 hits including 46 doubles, six triples, and 22 home runs. Hayden Friese ranks fourth with a team-best .391 seasonal batting average with Trent Turner (.371) eighth in the conference. Friese has 34 hits and Turner 33 to rank second and third in the league with Brayden Corn reaching on 29 base knocks, tied for the fourth-most.
 
Including six strikeouts in earning his victory for the Purple & Gold, Saturday's scheduled starter Davis Wright currently leads the squad with 31 punchouts on the year – one of three to surpass 20 already with Sunday's projected starter Cannon Pickell fanning 12 last week to double his tally to 24 and Dusty Revis striking out 22. Brandon Langley, who has taken the closer role for now, picked up his third save in the midweek.
 
On the mound, WCU has 184 combined strikeouts including a league-best 64 strikeouts looking.
 
In the field, WCU leads the SoCon – and ranks tied for 24th nationally – with 18 double-plays, two more than second-place ETSU.
 
Catamount Active Hitting Streaks:
Seniors Trent Turner (15 games, team season long), Mason Holton (13 games), and Jack Spyke (10 games) each saw their lengthy hitting streaks snapped against Eastern Illinois. Jaylen Jones saw an eight-game streak halted in the midweek:

5 games- Hayden Friese
5 games – Elijah Smith
4 games – Cole Jones
 
Longest Active Reached Base Safely Streaks:
WCU has seen multiple double-digit reached base safely streaks this season – Hayden Friese (24-game, dating back to 2024), Trent Turner (17 games), Trey Spees (17 games), Mason Holton (13 games) Brayden Corn (12 games) and Jack Spyke (11 games). The Catamounts have a couple of active RBS streaks that have reached double digits:
 
16 games – Cole Jones
14 games – Elijah Smith
5 games – Hayden Friese
 
About the Opposition – VMI Keydets:
The Keydets snapped a three-game losing skid with a 9-7 win over Commonwealth foe, Longwood, in the midweek after being swept at Yale last weekend. VMI is an impressive 14-7 overall on the year, though are ranked 256th in the latest RPI as all 14 wins have come against "Quad 4" teams with a strength of schedule at 297 out of 307.
 
That said, VMI is a very offensive-minded team that hits for average and applies pressure on opponents on the base paths with the way the squad runs. Eight Keydets with 10 or more games played are batting over the .300 threshold, led by Bradley Garner (.444). Boston Torres has a team-best 37 RBI to accompany his team-leading nine doubles, while Cole Raile has eight homers to pace the squad.
 
On the base paths, six Keydets have double-digit stolen bases including two – Owen Prince (30-of-36) and Kazuya Jordan (22-of-22) – who have as many or more stolen bags than WCU collectively as a team.
 
Projected starter Caden Plummer (3-2) has tossed a team-high 32 innings with one complete game, striking out a team-best 37. Evan Parmer, who is slated as Friday's league-opening starter, has seven relief appearances, a 2-0 record and one of VMI's two saves with 23 Ks over 17.2 innings.
 
VMI was picked eighth in the SoCon's preseason coaches' poll with two players garnering preseason All-SoCon honors. First-baseman Grayson Fitzwater was a first-team selection and outfielder Owen Prince was selected to the second team.

Western Carolina vs. VMI – The Series:
The all-time series between the Catamounts and Keydets will eclipse the century mark this weekend as Friday's meeting is No. 99 on the diamond dating back to 1971. Of the previous 98 meetings, WCU holds a commanding 72-26 series lead including a 35-11 edge in games played in Cullowhee. However, the last eight meetings have been split evenly, 4-4.
 
WCU took 2-of-3 in Lexington last year in the most recent meetings, winning 8-4 in the opener before splitting a doubleheader 16-6 – thanks to a seven-run top of the ninth – before dropping the finale 9-8 on a walk-off home run. The Keydets swept a doubleheader back in 2023 in the most recent meetings in Cullowhee as the third game was rained out.
 
On Deck for the Catamounts:
Western Carolina concludes its season-long eight-game homestand by hosting mountain-rival UNC Asheville in the front end of a nonconference home-and-home with a 4 p.m. first pitch. Tuesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).
 
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