Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina homered three times and clawed back to within a run with the would-be game-tying marker 90 feet away at third base in the bottom of the ninth inning, but VMI held on to even the series with a 5-4 victory Saturday afternoon at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
Down by three at 5-2 after consecutive two-out doubles by the Keydets in the top of the 7th tacked on an insurance marker,
Mason Holton belted a two-run home run just to the right of the batter's eye in straightaway centerfield to pull the Catamounts back to within a run, 5-4. After being retired in order in the eighth inning, WCU got a one-out base runner in the final frame as
Jaylen Jones reached on an infield error and ended up a second base when the dust settled.
Wyatt Stanley grounded out to move Jones to third base with the game-tying run just 90 feet away, but a fly ball to center stranded the equalizing marker.
With the series hanging in the balance, the two teams meet in Sunday's series rubber match at Noon. The finale is slated to be
broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required), and
live stats will be available online at CatamountSports.com.
Holton (2-for-4) was one of two Catamounts with multi-hit games, collecting a third-inning double and his seventh-inning two-run homer, accounting for his two RBI.
Brayden Corn (2-for-4) singled and carried the centerfield wall on a sixth-inning solo homer.
Hayden Friese (1-for-4) hit a one-out home run in the first inning, giving the Catamounts their lone lead of the afternoon.
Two redshirt freshmen,
Wyatt Stanley (1-for-3) and
Noah Quarless (1-for-3), tallied WCU's only other base knocks as the Catamounts finished with seven hits in the loss.
Cole Raile (2-for-5) had two extra-base hits with a double and a three-run home run in the fifth inning that broke the 1-1 tie in guiding the Keydets to the 4-1 lead at the game's midpoint. Ryan Peterson (2-for-3) reached base three times with a pair of singles and an HBP, driving in VMI's first run on an infield single in the second inning. Grayson Fitzwater (1-for-4) collected an RBI with his lone hit on a seventh-inning double.
Friese gave the Catamounts an early lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the first before a one-out walk to Owen Prince and a two-base throwing error on a failed pickoff moved him to third. Peterson legged out an infield single, winning the race to the bag at first for the RBI single and a tie score.
Saturday's game stayed tied until Raile hit a three-run home run in the top of the fifth to push the Keydets ahead, 4-1. Corn cut the deficit in half with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to make it 4-2 before Fitzwater's double stretched the margin back to three, 5-2.
In the bottom of the seventh, Stanley lifted a one-out single into shallow center ahead of Holton's two-out, two-run home run that pulled WCU back to within a run, 5-4.
VMI retired five consecutive Catamounts to end the seventh inning ahead of a 1-2-3 eighth and a lead-off ground out in the bottom of the ninth, setting up WCU's attempted rally in the final frame.
Both teams committed a pair of errors on the day, with VMI stranding six and WCU leaving five runners on base on the day.
Catamount starter
Davis Wright (1-3) pitched well enough to earn the victory but was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs – three earned – on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts over six and two-thirds innings. Freshman Carter Burnett was tagged for one run on two hits in a third of an inning, with
Kaden Fuller striking out two looking over two relief innings of hitless, scoreless relief.
Caden Plummer (4-2) went pitch-for-pitch with Wright, totaling seven innings in the start with four runs allowed on seven hits with a strikeout. Reliever Andrew Jones set the table with an inning and two-thirds out of the bullpen, with Nathan Hawley inducing the game-ending flyout to earn his first save of the year.
Sunday's series finale has an earlier Noon start time to conclude the three-game league-opening series.
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