Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball plays its first road game of the season on Tuesday, traveling to Spartanburg, S.C., to face perennial Big South Conference power USC Upstate. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Upstate's Harley Park.
The Catamounts and Spartans meet in the front end of a nonconference home-and-home, with the return meeting scheduled for Cullowhee on Tuesday, April 7.
Tuesday's game will be
broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required), with live stats available online through
a link at CatamountSports.com.
Western Carolina (3-0) enters the week following a three-game, season-opening sweep of Atlantic-10 Conference member George Washington in Cullowhee, scoring a pair of come-from-behind, walk-off victories – one in extra innings. USC Upstate (1-2) dropped 2-of-3 road games at Sun Belt Conference member South Alabama. The Spartans were outscored 30-20 overall with a 10-7 victory on Saturday before falling in the series rubber match.
Projected Pitching Match-Up:
WCU – R-Jr. RHP
Shane Huntsberger vs. So. LHP Max Kaplan
About Western Carolina:
Bookending its weekend with a pair of come-from-behind victories, the Catamounts started the season 3-0 for the first time since 2024 by sweeping George Washington in the first-ever meetings between the two programs.
SoCon Baseball Player of the Week
Noah Quarless leads the Catamounts with a .600 batting average, delivering a walk-off home run and a walk-off double in guiding WCU to the series win over GW. The Catamounts also got homers from Haywood County products
Trent Turner and
Walker Fox – the latter coming in his first plate appearance. Turner and
Brody Raleigh led the Catamounts with four hits apiece through the first three games of the season.
Looking for a four-game win streak to open the schedule, WCU last had a 4-0 start to a season in 2022, with a four-game season-opening sweep of Niagara in Cullowhee.
Scouting USC Upstate:
The Spartans open their home schedule against WCU on Tuesday before visiting sixth-ranked Georgia on Wednesday. USC Upstate enters the week batting .297 collectively as a team, averaging 6.7 runs per game, coming on 11 hits per contest.
Redshirt sophomore transfer infielder Maloy Heaghney paces five Spartan regulars batting over .300 with a .571 batting average (8-for-14), with six singles and a pair of doubles through three games. He also has a team-high four RBI, one of six players with multiple runs driven in. Henry Zenor (.400) had six hits with a double and three RBI, with Trey Bentley matching with .400 (2-for-5) and a .625 on-base percentage. Jake Armsey drew a team-best five for Upstate's 19 walks on opening weekend.
Western Carolina vs. USC Upstate – All-Time Series:
The Catamounts and Spartans have met 17 times previously on the baseball diamond, with WCU carrying a 10-7 overall series lead into Tuesday's meeting. The two teams split the two series meetings a year ago, both winning on their home field.
WCU is 5-4 in games played in Spartanburg, but has dropped two-straight, including a 16-10 loss last year and a 16-9 defeat back in 2024. The last Catamount road victory came back in 2023 with a 13-1 decision. Upstate has won four of the last six over the past three seasons.
Last Year's Meetings:
Cullowhee, N.C. (2/18/25): Western Carolina used a pair of three-run innings in the middle third of its home-opener to rally back from an early 3-1 deficit as the Catamounts claimed their first victory of the season with a 10-7 win over USC Upstate.
Spartanburg, S.C. (2/26/25) – Cole Jones homered twice, and
Trey Spees belted his first career round-tripper, but Western Carolina was unable to overcome 16 runs by USC Upstate over the game's first five innings as the Spartans scored the series split, holding off the Catamounts 16-10 in nonconference action at Harley Park. WCU led 2-0 after the top of the first inning, but Upstate pulled out to a 16-6 lead through five complete, with the Catamounts scoring the final four runs of the game.
For WCU,
Cole Jones homered twice, and
Trey Spees finished 5-for-9 with a double and a home run against the Spartans.
Wyatt Stanley had a double and a triple for his two series hits, while
Mason Holton also homered as part of three hits and four RBI against Upstate.
Among the Spartan returners, Wylie Waters went 5-for-8 with a double and four RBI. Jake Armsey drove home three with a pair of base hits, with Johnny Sweeney and Preston Lucas both plating a pair of runs apiece.
On Deck for Western Carolina:
Western Carolina returns home for four straight games at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium, beginning with a three-game nonconference series against Mid-America Conference foe, Bowling Green (0-3), this weekend and a second MAC foe, Akron, on Tuesday. WCU's weekend games are scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday, with a 4 p.m. start against the Zips on Tuesday. All four games are scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+
(paid subscription required).
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).
