Greensboro, N.C. – Trent Turner blasted a two-run home run to left field in the top of the ninth inning that doubled Western Carolina's advantage and, more importantly, provided a pair of insurance markers as the Catamounts had to withstand a ninth inning push by homestanding UNC Greensboro to earn the series-opening victory, 8-6, Thursday night at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
 
Josh Ossiander struck out the final two batters in a two-run home half of the ninth inning as the Catamounts claimed game one of their final three-game Southern Conference series of the regular season.
 
Thursday's win also kept alive WCU's hopes of advancing out of their current fifth place standing, which would move the squad out of next Wednesday's single-elimination round of the SoCon Baseball Championship, presented by Holston Gases. Now with 11 losses in league play, the defeat all but locked UNCG into one of the first single-elimination games in the tournament.
 
With Hayden Friese aboard with a two-out single, Turner turned on a 2-0 pitch that sailed well beyond the left-field wall for the two-run homer, his team-leading and single-season best 13th of the year. However, as it did much of the game, UNCG (20-31, 8-11 SoCon) had a counterpunch in the final inning, mounting a one-out rally by loading the bases on three consecutive walks that brought Ossiander out of the bullpen in relief.
 
WCU had a chance to turn what would have been a game-ending double-play as Ossiander induced an infield ground ball on the first batter he faced. However, the grounder was bobbled in the field for the first miscue, then was compounded by an errant throw to the bag at second base that resulted in a pair of Spartan runs scoring on the two errors. Still with two runners aboard, Ossiander bore down to strike out the final two hitters swinging, rallying from a 2-0 count for the punchout off Luke Jenkins before fanning Luke Holland to secure the win and earn his first career save.
 
Western Carolina's eight base hits were scattered between six different players, with Elijah Smith (3-for-4) posting the lone multi-hit game of the day with a trio of singles with a run scored and an RBI. Brayden Corn (1-for-5) doubled home two runs on his lone hit of the night, while Turner (1-for-4) reached base twice with a walk and his ninth-inning two-run dinger. The homer extended Turner's active hitting streak to five-straight games, during which time he is batting .429 (9-for-21). Six of his team-best 13 homers have come in the last 10 games for the senior out of Waynesville, N.C.
 
Wyatt Stanley (0-for-2) was hitless in the winning effort, though he did draw a pair of walks and scored both times he was aboard. Trey Spees (1-for-4) drove home a game-high three runs with a two-run single in the second inning and a productive RBI groundout in the sixth inning. Hayden Friese (1-for-5), who has a six-game hit streak, and Noah Quarless (1-for-4) both singled, while Mason Holton reached on a walk and scored.
 
For UNCG, its eight hits came from five players, with three posting two-hit efforts. Jacob Budzik (2-for-4) doubled with a run and an RBI, while Brantley Truitt (2-for-3) and Jacob Dilley (2-for-3) both reached base four times with two singles and a pair of walks apiece. Luke Jenkins (1-for-5) tripled for his lone hit with an RBI.
 
Western Carolina clawed its way to a 3-0 lead over the first two innings, using a Smith run-scoring single and the two-run base knock by Spees in the second inning to lead by three through two complete. UNCG got both of its extra-base hits in the bottom of the fourth inning as the first two batters combined for its first run. Budzik led off with a double before Jenkins tripled to the cavernous outfield in right center field to trim the deficit to two. Jose Perez plated a run on a sacrifice bunt that made it 3-2 through four.
 
Spees struck again in the sixth, plating Stanley on a right-side infield RBI ground out to jumpstart a three-run frame. Corn doubled home Quarless and Smith to make it 6-2. The Spartans managed solo markers in their half of the sixth and seventh innings for a 6-4 game ahead of a scoreless eighth to set up the ninth-inning drama.
 
With nine of the game's 14 runs scoring after the sixth inning, it somewhat overshadowed the start of junior Dusty Revis (6-5), who went 6.0 innings to earn the win. The Marion, N.C., product struck out seven without a walk, allowing just three runs while scattering eight hits. Owen Austin worked around three walks with a pair of strikeouts, allowing a run, while Evan Langston tossed a hitless, scoreless eighth with a strikeout.
 
Josh Ossiander used the two strikeouts to record two-thirds of an inning to earn the save, helping closer Brandon Langley, who retired the first batter he faced before the Spartans coaxed a trio of walks to load the bases in the ninth.
 
Used much of the year as a reliever, Danny Thompson Jr., (2-3) made his first start of the year for the Spartans and took the loss after giving up three runs, two earned, in five innings of action. Thompson Jr. countered three walks with three strikeouts. Jake Colucci was touched for three runs on three hits with a walk in an inning of work before Rob Ready held the Catamounts in check until Turner's ninth-inning bomb. Ready struck out four while allowing just two hits in the ninth inning.
 
The series continues Friday at the UNCG Baseball Stadium, again with a 6 p.m. first pitch. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats linked online at CatamountSports.com. Admission at the UNCG Baseball Stadium is free, as is parking in the Walker Street Parking deck just beyond the rightfield wall.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount baseball and WCU Athletics through social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports), Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountBSB), and Instagram (wcu_catamounts, catamountbsb).
 
 Remaining SoCon Tournament Seeding Scenarios:

• By virtue of its 7-3 win over top-ranked ETSU on Friday afternoon, The Citadel stands at 11-8, tied with Mercer, which walked off at home against Samford, 2-1, on Friday night … WCU improved to 9-10;
• WCU cannot eclipse the Bears regardless of what happens in the remainder of their series against Samford, as Mercer has 11 wins – the most WCU could record is 11 victories which would finish the two in a tie – but Mercer holds the tiebreaker after taking 2-of-3 in the regular season head-to-head meeting;
• WCU could still overtake The Citadel … the Catamounts would need to complete a three-game sweep at UNCG to move to 11-10 on the season, and would need The Citadel to lose its final two against ETSU, also finishing at 11-10 … WCU won last week's series over the Bulldogs for the tiebreaker;
• One more victory by The Citadel would lock the Catamounts into next Wednesday's single-elimination games, with the result of WCU's series determining the seeding;
  • WCU cannot finish seventh or eighth in the standings now – VMI has 15 losses with just one game remaining and will be the No. 8 seed … Wofford (8-12) can only get to nine wins with one game remaining – WCU already has nine league wins with two games to play, meaning two losses would result in a tie and WCU has the tiebreaker;
• If WCU, Mercer, and The Citadel all finished tied at 11-10 – WCU sweeping UNCG and both Mercer and The Citadel losing the final two games in their respective series – the three-way tie would be broken by first looking at the combined record of the three against one another – though each team would be 3-3 after that tiebreaker … It would then move to the head-to-head tiebreaker with the highest seeded team NOT involved in the tie – which would be ETSU.