Cullowhee, N.C. – Amidst a stretch in the schedule where the Catamounts play nine of 12 games on the road, Western Carolina baseball makes a holiday week pitstop at the friendly confines of Childress Field / Hennon Stadium beginning Thursday against the Wofford College Terriers.
 
The three-game Southern Conference series opens with a 5 p.m. first pitch on Thursday, continues with a special 4:30 p.m. first pitch on Friday in a regionally televised game on TheCW62, and concludes Saturday with a 2 p.m. start. All three games will be available on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and live stats will be available online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Western Carolina (17-19, 2-7 SoCon) halted a four-game slide – and a five-game winless drought away from Cullowhee – with Tuesday's 9-7 road victory at Presbyterian. The Catamounts built a 9-2 lead and held off PC's late charge to take the second of the three meetings with the Blue Hose in the midweek.
 
Wofford (23-15, 2-7 SoCon) has been one of the better teams in the conference in terms of overall record this season. It likewise enters the SoCon series after snapping a slide with a mid-week win, upending cross-town rival USC Upstate 10-5 at home in the midweek. The Terriers were swept at UNC Greensboro last weekend, falling 9-2 and 11-1 in seven innings in a Saturday doubleheader before dropping the finale, 4-1.
 
About Western Carolina:
The Catamounts open up the canine portion of the show as they play eight-straight games against teams with dog monikers – three against the Wofford Terriers, midweek jaunt to UNC Asheville to face the Bulldogs, followed by a second Bulldog at Samford for three in league play, and concluding against the most active of the three – the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs – at home on April 29.
 
Western Carolina halted a four-game slide on Tuesday with a solid road win at Presbyterian – just the squad's fourth victory away from Cullowhee this season and third in a true road game. WCU hit three home runs, including solo shots by Trey Spees and Josh Ossiander, with Trent Turner delivering a two-run blast.
 
The Catamounts enter the week third in the SoCon with a team .303 batting average, including the fourth-most overall hits with 372 – a rank that slipped during the four-game slide. WCU's 76 doubles are tied for the most in the league, adding six triples and 39 home runs (5th). The squad is averaging 7.9 runs on 10.3 hits per game while surrendering an average of 8.4 runs on 10 hits with a .296 batting average against.
 
At home, where WCU has 13 of its 17 wins this season, the Catamounts are batting .331 with 47 doubles, two triples, and 27 home runs. Conversely, the squad is batting just .272 away from Cullowhee with 28 doubles, two triples, and just 11 homers.
 
Senior Trent Turner leads the team – and ranks 10th in the SoCon – with a .336 seasonal batting average, just ahead of junior Brayden Corn (13th-t, .331). Jack Spyke has taken the team's doubles lead with a dozen on the year to rank tied for fourth in the SoCon, just ahead of Elijah Smith with 11. Corn has crept up to 11th overall in the SoCon in stolen bases with a team-best 14.
 
Thursday's starter, Davis Wright, enters the week ranked tied for first in the SoCon with 58 total strikeouts, including a league-leading 19 strikeouts looking. Friday starter Dusty Revis has fanned 42 this season, tied for 12th in the conference. After his sixth save of the season Tuesday, Brandon Langley is tied for the most in the SoCon standings and tied for 26th in the NCAA.
 
Active Hitting Streaks:
2 games – Elijah Smith, Trent Turner
1 game – eight active
 
Active Reached Base Safely Streaks:
12 games – Jack Spyke, Wyatt Stanley
3 games – Noah Quarless
2 games – Hayden Friese, Elijah Smith, Trent Turner
 
About Wofford:
Wofford heads up I-26 to Cullowhee, having dropped three of their last four overall despite the slide-stopping win over USC Upstate (W, 10-5) on Tuesday, and have losses in seven of their last 10 games overall. The Terriers have a couple of impressive wins on their resume this season, including road wins at No. 23 Kentucky (12-5, March 8) and at No. 17 Troy (14-3, 8 innings on March 25). In SoCon play, Wofford took 2-of-3 from The Citadel for their lone league wins after being swept against Samford and at UNCG most recently.
 
The calling card for the Terriers over recent years under former head coach Todd Interdonato, the "Thievin' Terriers" rank second in the SoCon – and third nationally – with 120 stolen bases this season – a mark that would lead if not for VMI's insane number of 187 thefts. James Layman is among six Keydets on the league's individual larceny list, fifth with 22 stolen bags on the season. Wofford has 100-or-more stolen bases in 12-straight full seasons dating back to 2013, the longest active streak in the NCAA.
 
The Terriers are batting .294 (5th in SoCon) as a team with 352 hits, including 69 doubles, six triples, and 21 home runs – seventh in the conference. They are averaging 7.1 runs on 9.3 hits per game this season while holding teams to 6.1 runs on 9.1 hits per game on average. Wofford ranks fifth in team ERA (5.43) and allows teams to bat .276 against. The Terriers are tied with WCU, though, with 507 team strikeouts with 81 looking.
 
Individually, Tyler Hare is tied for the SoCon lead with a team-high 14 doubles, with Ryan Wynn on his heels with 12 two-base hits to sit tied for fourth in the SoCon with Spyke. Friday starter Brandon Little has a team-best 38 strikeouts, as Wofford has seven arms with 30 or more Ks on the season.
 
Projected Pitching Match-Ups:
WCU – Jr. LHP Davis Wright (3-4, 4.11 ERA) vs. WOF – Fr. RHP Cullen Condon (1-2, 6.17 ERA)
WCU – Jr. RHP Dusty Revis (2-4, 5.20 ERA) vs. WOF – Jr. RHP Branton Little (4-4, 6.60 ERA)
WCU – TBA vs. WOF – So. LHP Kenny Michaels (3-2, 4.01 ERA)
 
Western Carolina vs. Wofford – The Series:
The Catamounts and Terriers have met 109 times previously on the baseball diamond, with WCU carrying a 78-30-1 all-time series lead into the week. However, the last 11 meetings have been evenly split with a weather-halted tie – 5-5 1. The Catamounts have been dominant in games played in Cullowhee in the series – 40 wins over 15 losses –. Still, WCU has dropped the last three SoCon series played at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium against the Terriers by losing 2-of-3 in 20023, 2021, and 2019, as Wofford has won six of the last nine games played in Cullowhee.

Familiar Face:
Wofford Director of Player Development Chase Walter is a former Catamount. After starting his collegiate career at Spartanburg Methodist, Walter was drafted out of Cullowhee in the 2019 First-Year MLB Player Draft by the Los Angeles Angels in the 32nd round in 2019. He later signed as an undrafted free agent with the San Diego Padres in 2020. He spent four years in the minor leagues and ended his playing career in Auckland, New Zealand, in the Australian Baseball League.
 
Walter pitched for three seasons at Western Carolina and recorded 212 strikeouts in 195.1 innings on the mound, ranking tied for 16th in WCU history for career K's - matching a former Major Leaguer, Jared Burton (2000-02). In 2019, he threw a team-high 93.0 innings and led the team with 114 strikeouts - the fifth-best single-season in program history. Walter had a career-best 17 strikeouts in a complete-game win over Furman that season, earning SoCon Pitcher of the Week honors.
 
WCU vs. Wofford – Last Year's Meetings:
Western Carolina and Wofford met four times in 2024, splitting the meetings right down the middle as the Catamounts took 2-of-3 in Spartanburg before the Terriers won in the Southern Conference Baseball Championship. The Terriers scored a 13-2, run-ruled win in seven innings in game one before the Catamounts bounced back to win 7-2 and 8-5 in games two and three to take the series.
 
Wofford picked up its second run-rule victory over WCU with a 12-1 victory in seven innings in Greenville, S.C., at Fluor Field in the tournament.
 
Among WCU's leading returners from a year ago, infielder Mason Holton hit .357 (5-of-14) with a double and a home run against the Terriers, while three of Trent Turner's (.267, 4-of-15) four hits went for extra bases with two doubles and a homer. WCU will miss Zach Ketterman's three home runs as the since-graduated senior accounted for five RBI. Dusty Revis went 1-0 on the mound with a win in 2.1 innings of relief work with a pair of strikeouts against two walks.
 
For the Terriers, the top three from the series against WCU have departed, with Tyler Hare leading the returners with a .286 average with four hits, including a home run. Wofford will miss the efforts of Jack Renwick (.500, 7-for-14) and Marshall Toole (.353, 6-for-17 – 4 extra-base hits, 10 RBI) from last year's lineup. Among the pitchers, returner Kenny Michaels struck out six over 4.2 relief innings, and Alec Bouchard fanned six in three relief innings.
 
On Deck for Western Carolina:
Following this week's three-game, holiday week series, the Catamounts return to the road for seven of their next eight games, including a midweek stop at UNC Asheville (April 23) and a three-game SoCon swing at Samford (April 25-27). WCU's next home game is a one-game, midweek meeting with Gardner-Webb on April 29.
 
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