Cullowhee, N.C. – Three Catamount seniors have been elected team captains for Western Carolina's 2026 season. Left-side infielders Mason Holton and Trent Turner are joined by catcher Cam Murray, chosen by their teammates to lead the squad into the spring. It's the second-straight season that the trio has been selected as captains, as they were each part of the five team captains in 2025.
 
Both Holton and Turner received a fifth year under the NCAA regulations, returning to the Catamount lineup, while Murray, a redshirt senior, enters his fifth season in a Catamount uniform after wearing the coveted Leggett No. 7 Legacy jersey a season ago.
 
Holton enters his third season in a Catamount uniform with a .306 batting average over the past two seasons, collecting 122 base hits, including a career-best 71 hits in 2025. He has 43 extra-base hits with 27 doubles, a triple, and 15 home runs, nine hit a season ago. The Overland Park, Kansas, product has driven home 84 runs over the past two years, with a career-best 44, including 17 with two outs last spring. A combined 102 of his 106 starts over the past two years have come at third base for the Catamounts.
 
Twice listed on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list for the nation's top shortstop, Turner has started all 112 games in a Catamount uniform at short. He has batted .313 over the past two years, including a career-best .325 a season ago as he finished the season two-thirds of the way towards the WCU Triple Crown. The Waynesville, N.C., native has over 70 hits in his first two years at WCU, collecting 71 in 2024 and 76 last spring. He has 52 extra-base hits, including 28 doubles, a pair of triples, and 22 home runs, belting a career-best and team-leading 14 a season ago. Turner was named to the Southern Conference All-Defensive team a season ago.
 
Turner is a two-time SoCon Academic Honor Roll recipient and has twice been selected to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team.
 
Murray has played in 76 games with 31 starts over the past five seasons, redshirting in 2023. He played in 15 games a year ago with seven starts, including five behind the plate and twice as the designated hitter. The Fredericksburg, Va., product has five career extra-base hits, 17 runs scored, and 10 career RBI. Murray is also a four-time SoCon Academic Honor Roll recipient
 
Western Carolina opens the 2026 season with seven of its first eight games at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium as part of a 28-game home schedule. Season tickets are on sale now through the Catamount Athletics ticket office, located on the first floor of the Ramsey Center, by phone at (828) 227-2401, and online any time at CatamountSports.com/BuyTickets. Tickets start at just $51 for adult general admission or $26 for youth general admission. Additional seating options include reserved field-level chair-back seats and upper-reserved chair-back seats under cover beneath the press box.
 
Single-game tickets will go on sale to the public in mid-January ahead of the season-opening weekend in mid-February.
 
Western Carolina is coming off a 30-28 regular-season finish last season, which included 10 victories in Southern Conference play and a fifth-seed finish in the conference tournament. WCU upended eighth-seeded VMI 15-1 in seven innings and upset No. 4 seed Mercer 10-3 before falling to top-seeded ETSU, 16-13, and nearly rallied past No. 3 seed The Citadel, 11-10.
 
Head coach Alan Beck and the Catamounts return 25 combined players from last season, including 13 letter-winning position players and 12 pitchers. Among the returners are seven position players with 31-or-more starts last season, Holton and Turner, first-team All-SoCon selection and summer-league All-Star, Wyatt Stanley, and SoCon All-Freshman team honoree, Trey Spees. A pair of weekend starting pitchers in LHP Davis Wright and sophomore Carter Burnette highlight WCU's dozen returning hurlers, which includes junior Davis Budd, who is coming off a summer all-star effort in the Valley League.
 
The Catamounts also welcome 17 newcomers, including seven transfers – three redshirt sophomores, two juniors, a sophomore, and one graduate transfer – with five freshman position players, and five rookie pitchers to their 2026 roster.
 
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).