Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball continues its current swing of seven road games among its next eight contests as the Catamounts venture to Birmingham, Ala., for a crucial three-game Southern Conference series against the Samford Bulldogs. The first pitch of Friday's series-opener is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT at Joe Lee Griffin Field and continues Saturday with a 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT start. The series concludes Sunday with a 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT first pitch.
 
Each game is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats available online through CatamountSports.com.
 
Western Carolina (20-20, 4-8 SoCon) enters the weekend riding a season-long tying three-game win streak, with back-to-back wins in league play last weekend over Wofford to earn the series win – WCU's first over the Terriers in Cullowhee since 2017. In the midweek, the Catamounts built a 10-run lead over mountain rival UNC Asheville before the Bulldogs rallied to knot the game at 13 in the home half of the eighth inning. Two batters into the ninth, Hayden Friese tripled home Jackson Lyda with the game-winning run, and Brandon Langley worked a 1-2-3 home half for his SoCon-leading seventh save of the year.
 
All told the Catamounts have victories in four of their last five, including a pair of road tallies to give the Purple & Gold five wins away from home, four coming in true road games.
 
Samford (22-18, 8-4 SoCon) had its short, two-game win streak halted by 18th-ranked Alabama as the Crimson Tide took an 11-7 victory at Joe Lee Griffin Field in the midweek. The Bulldogs are amidst a 12-game homestand where they are 13-7 this season.
 
Noting Western Carolina:
The Catamounts enter the week ranked third in the Southern Conference with a .309 team batting average, tied for the league's most base hits with 424, including a SoCon-best 88 doubles, nine triples, and are fifth with 42 home runs. WCU is third in scoring with 327 runs, averaging 8.2 runs per game on 10.6 hits per contest. The Catamounts surrender an average of 8.4 runs on 10 hits per game.
 
WCU's pitching staff is fifth with 342 combined strikeouts, including a SoCon-best 107 strikeouts looking. Friday starter Davis Wright leads the conference with 63 total strikeouts including a league-best 21 strikeouts looking.
 
Seven WCU regulars are batting over the .300 threshold, with an eighth – Wyatt Stanley (.288) just below. Hayden Friese (.346) leads the Catamounts entering the week in both batting average and base hits (55). Jack Spyke overtook Elijah Smith for the team lead in doubles with 14, tied for third in the SoCon, while Trent Turner and Mason Holton have both hit a team-best seven homers.
 
WCU's Active Hitting Streaks:
6 games – Elijah Smith
5 games – Jack Spyke, Trey Spees
4 games – Mason Holton
3 games – Hayden Friese
 
WCU's Active Reached Base Safely Streaks:
16 games – Jack Spyke
6 games – Hayden Friese, Elijah Smith, Trent Turner
5 games – Trey Spees
 
What's Trending for the Catamounts:

• During his current five-game hitting streak, Jack Spyke has a pair of two-hit games and has driven in six runs … Since the calendar flipped to April, Spyke has been an extra-base machine, collecting eight of his 14 seasonal doubles;
• Spyke has reached base safely in 16 straight games and looks to match the team's seasonal long of 17-straight in Friday's opener … Trey Spees and Trent Turner both had runs of 17-straight RBS;
• Relief pitcher Ryan White has seemingly found his groove again for the Catamounts out of the bullpen … the Randleman, N.C., product has 17 strikeouts collectively in just 9.1 innings of work – of those 17, 14 have come in his last six appearances, posting a season-high three Ks four times;

About the Samford Bulldogs:
Picked second in the Southern Conference's preseason poll, just two points behind favorite UNCG, Samford enters the weekend tied for second in the SoCon standings with an 8-4 record and a .667-win percentage. The Bulldogs are tied with ETSU, both trailing UNCG at 7-2 (.778).
 
The Bulldogs opened league play on the road, dropping 2-of-3 at ETSU before bouncing back to sweep Wofford in Spartanburg. Samford then took 2-of-3 against both The Citadel at home and at VMI heading into this weekend.
 
Samford earned its lofty second-place prediction despite not landing a single player on the preseason All-SoCon team. Three Bulldogs garnered second-team plaudits, including left-handed pitcher Miller Riggins, reliever Evan Steckmesser, and second-baseman – and last week's SoCon Player of the Week – Jeffrey Ince.
 
Six Samford regulars enter the week hitting over the .300 threshold, paced by Cade Carr (.354), who is tied for second on the team with Ince with 52 base hits. Jake Souders (.323) leads the 'Dogs with 53 base hits this spring. Four Bulldogs have double-digit doubles as Samford has 86 two-baggers to trail only WCU (88), while Parker McDonald has a team-high 11 home runs as the Bulldogs are tied with Mercer for second in the league with 61 big flies.
 
The Bulldog pitching staff has a SoCon-leading 361 strikeouts this season with 105 of those looking, just off the 107 pace by WCU's pitchers.
 
Projected Pitching Match-ups:
Friday: WCU – LHP Davis Wright (3-5, 4.69 ERA) vs. SAM – LHP Miller Riggins (3-2, 5.54 ERA)
Saturday: WCU – RHP Dusty Revis (3-4, 5.02 ERA) vs. RHP – Cameron Keshock (4-1, 3.69 ERA)
Sunday: WCU – TBA vs. SAM – TBA
 
Western Carolina vs. Samford – The Series:
The Catamounts and Bulldogs have met 55 times previously on the baseball diamond, with WCU trailing in the series, 23-32. Of the 21 games held in Birmingham, WCU has dropped 15 as part of a 6-15 all-time series road record.
 
Despite dropping 2-of-3 in the most recent three-game set at Samford in 2023, Western Carolina did manage to halt a six-game road losing skid to the Bulldogs that dated back to the 2017 season by earning a 7-5 win in the series finale that year.
 
Up Next for Western Carolina:
The Catamounts continue the "canine" portion of the schedule with another meeting against a dog moniker as the Runnin' Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb will be in Cullowhee on Tuesday, April 29. The first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). WCU then steps back out of league play on the weekend by traveling to Atlanta for a three-game series against Georgia Tech, May 2-4.