Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball concludes its season-long eight-game homestand Tuesday as the Catamounts host mountain-rival UNC Asheville with first pitch at 5 p.m. at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
 
Tuesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Starting Lineup:
Western Carolina went 2-2 last week in four home games, claiming the first of three meetings with Presbyterian, 4-2, last Tuesday and opening Southern Conference play at 1-2 against VMI. WCU won its first SoCon game for the third straight season but fell in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Brayden Corn became the third Catamount honored by the conference office this week as he was named the SoCon Player of the Week on Monday after batting .533 with eight hits including two home runs and five RBI last week. Corn joins Mason Holton (March 3) and Brandon Langley (March 10), with the latter earning top pitcher honors.
 
UNC Asheville (9-15) comes to Cullowhee amidst a four-game slide, dropping four-straight home games to Wofford last Tuesday in midweek action and was swept by Longwood in Big South Conference play over the weekend. The Bulldogs are 3-10 away from Greenwood Field this season.
 
Tuesday marks the front end of a nonconference home-and-home with the return meeting scheduled for Wednesday, April 23, in Asheville.
 
About Western Carolina:
The Catamounts enter the week at 11-13 overall after returning to .500 with a pair of wins last Tuesday and Friday before dropping the final two of the series with VMI. WCU ranks second in the SoCon with a .318 team batting average, second with 208 total runs scored on a SoCon-best 269 base hits. The Catamounts are second in the league with 49 doubles, tied for second with six triples, and tied for fourth with 26 team home runs.
 
Seven Catamount regulars are batting over .300 this season with Jaylen Jones (.396) and Hayden Friese (.374) leading the team. Four Catamounts have 20 or more RBI led by Elijah Smith with a team-best 29 runs driven in. Smith also paces the team with 14 extra-base hits including a team-high 10 doubles. Friese and Mason Holton lead the way with five homers apiece.
 
Three of the top four hits leaders in the SoCon were Catamount uniforms with Friese (2nd, 37), Brayden Corn (3rd, 35), and Trent Turner (4th, 34) joined by Holton, who is tied for fifth with 32 base knocks.
 
WCU's pitching staff is fifth with 203 combined strikeouts on the year including a SoCon-best 73 strikeouts looking. Davis Wright has a team-best 35 Ks, fifth in the SoCon with 12 strikeouts looking, fourth-most in the league.
 
Western Carolina expects senior RHP Mason Holton (1-2, 7.59 ERA) to make a second consecutive midweek start after earning his first victory last Tuesday against Presbyterian, striking out five over five solid innings of work.
 
Misc. Catamount Notes:

• WCU is undefeated (7-0) when leading after seven innings – and 8-0 when leading after eight innings … Conversely, the Catamounts have just two wins when trailing after seven innings (2-12) and one comeback win when trailing after eight innings (1-12);
• WCU has had better success when hitting just one home run in a game – 7-2 overall – than hitting two or more, 2-6;
• WCU has out-hit 14 opponents this season, posting a 9-5 record when doing so – but have no won hen being out hit by the opposition (0-7);

 
Active Hitting Streaks:
8 games – Hayden Friese
4 games – Brayden Corn
2 games – Mason Holton, Cam Murray, Trey Spees
 
Active Reached Base Safely Streaks:
8 games – Hayden Friese
4 games – Brayden Corn, Mason Holton, Trent Turner
3 games – Trey Spees
2 games – Cam Murray, Josh Ossiander, Wyatt Stanley
 
About the Opposition – UNC Asheville:
Asheville opened the season on a three-game winning streak before enduring a five-game winless drought including a pair of losses in seven innings. The Bulldogs enter the week batting .262 collectively as a team with 204 hits over 24 games including 39 doubles, two triples, and nine home runs. The Bulldogs are averaging 8.5 hits and 5.8 runs per game while surrendering an average of 9.1 runs on 10.4 hits with an opponent batting average of .314 this season.
 
Three Bulldog regulars with 10 or more games played are batting above the .300 threshold led by Rylen Stockton at .329 (24-of-73) with eight extra-base hits. Patrick Gillen (20-of-66) and Charlie Stogner (10-of-33) are both batting .303. Jake Pereira has a team-best 17 RBI – one of five 'Dogs with double-digit runs plated, with Blaize Johnson leading with three home runs in addition to three doubles.
 
UNC Asheville was picked seventh in the nine-team Big South Conference preseason poll. WCU has also faced the preseason No. 2 pick USC Upstate – splitting the home-and-home – as well as falling at No. 3 pick Gardner-Webb and defeating the Big South's No. 4 pick in Presbyterian last week in Cullowhee.
 
Bulldog junior starting pitcher Colby Guy was named a preseason All-Big South Conference selection as well as the league's preseason Pitcher of the Year.
 
Western Carolina vs. UNC Asheville – The Series:
The Catamounts and Bulldogs meet for the 83rd time on Tuesday with WCU carrying a 57-25 edge in the all-time series. WCU has won four straight over the Bulldogs over the past two seasons after the Bulldogs won eight of the nine series meetings between 2015 and 2022.
 
The last 10 series meetings have been split evenly, 5-5. WCU has a pair of nine-game win streaks, the longest in series history. WCU has won 32 of the 44 scheduled meetings played in Cullowhee
 
Western Carolina vs. the Big South Conference:
The Catamounts have faced all nine current members of the Big South Conference, boasting a 155-69-2 (.690) record in those meetings. WCU is above .500 against eight of the nine current members with one series – vs. Longwood (1-1) – all-even at a win apiece.

 Charleston Southern (9-5-1); Gardner-Webb (19-14-1); High Point (29-9); Longwood (1-1);
Presbyterian (9-4); Radford (7-1); UNC Asheville (57-25); USC Upstate (10-7); Winthrop (14-3)
 
On Deck for Western Carolina:
The Catamounts hit the road in Southern Conference play for the first time this season on the weekend, traveling to Macon, Ga., for a three-game league series against the Mercer Bears this March 28-30. Friday's series opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with Saturday's game set for a 2 p.m. start and a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
 
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