Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball opens a four-game homestand against a pair of Mid-American Conference foes at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium, hosting Bowling Green for a three-game weekend set before a midweek nonconference meeting against Akron in #CatamountCountry.
 
WCU and Bowling Green are scheduled for three games beginning Friday at 4 p.m., continuing Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. The Catamounts and Zips are slated for a 4 p.m. matchup on Tuesday. Each game is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Western Carolina (3-1) opened the season with a pair of walk-off victories as part of a three-game sweep of George Washington in Cullowhee, but looks to snap back from a disappointing first road trip with a lackluster performance at USC Upstate on Tuesday. Bowling Green (0-3) was swept by No. 4/5 Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Ga., last weekend, outscored 50-11 over 25 innings – two nine-inning games and a seven-inning finale.
 
Entering the second weekend of the regular season, six of the eight Southern Conference schools are .500-or-better, with five posting winning records to start the season. Projected Pitching Matchups:
Friday:
BGSU – Sr. RHP Jacob Turner (1 app., 1 start – 4.0 IP, 0-1, 11.25 ERA, 1 BB, 2 K)
WCU – Sr. LHP Davis Wright (1 app., 1 start – 3.0 IP, 0-0, 15.00 ERA, 1 BB, 0 K)
 
Saturday:
BGSU – So. RHP Carrson Sova (1 app., 1 start – 2.2 IP, 0-1, 23.62 ERA, 5 BB, 3 K)
WCU – So. RHP Carter Burnette (1 app., 1 start – 5.0 IP, 1-0, 1.80 ERA, 2 BB, 7 K)
 
Sunday:
BGSU – Jr. RHP Andrew Heffernan (1 app., 1 start – 3.0 IP, 0-1, 15.00 ERA, 3 BB, 2 K)
WCU – Fr. LHP Evan Myers (1 app., 1 start – 4.0 IP, 0-0, 2.25 ERA, 1 BB, 4K)
 
About Western Carolina:
Even with three victories through its first four games, the Catamounts find themselves in unfamiliar territory offensively entering the weekend. WCU is batting just .218 (27-for-124), sixth out of the eight-team league. However, 11 of the squad's 27 hits have gone for extra bases, as the Catamounts are second in the SoCon with eight doubles and have three home runs. WCU has seven players with doubles and three who have homered.
 
Already with three extra-base hits, including a pair of walk-offs – a homer and a double – the SoCon's first weekly award winner, Noah Quarless, leads the league with a .625 (5-for-8) batting average, while also boasting a 1.250 slugging percentage and a team-best four-game hitting streak. Mason Holton joins Quarless, having reached base safely in all four games this season, while Jaylen Jones has a two-game hit streak headed into the weekend.
 
Six Catamounts have three-or-more hits this season, with Quarless pacing the team with five, followed by Brody Raleigh (.286, 4-for-14) and Trent Turner (.267, 4-for-15). Transfer Walker Fox has a team-best six RBI, one more than Quarless.
 
On the mound, 12 Catamounts have combined to record 31 strikeouts with 10 K's looking through the first four games. Game two starter Carter Burnette leads the team with seven strikeouts over five innings of work, while Mason Snyder was impressive with six Ks in six relief innings on opening day. WCU has 31 strikeouts against 13 walks through four games, the second fewest free passes in the SoCon, only trailing Wofford (5).
 
Scouting the Opposition – Bowling Green:
Bowling Green opens 2026 with 17 consecutive road games that began last week as the Falcons were swept in three games at nationally-ranked Georgia Tech. BG comes to Cullowhee before visiting in-state foe Cincinnati (Feb. 24) in the midweek, with a second SoCon team – Samford – on the schedule next weekend in Birmingham, Ala.
 
Offensively, the Falcons are batting .228 (21-of-92) as a team, limited to six extra-base hits coming against the Yellow Jackets – five doubles and one home run. The 21 hits have been scattered among nine players. Like Quarless for WCU, Sam Seidel paces the squad with a .625 average (5-for-8) with two doubles and a home run to account for four RBI. Seidel hit .324 a season ago. Pauly Mancino (4-for-11, .364) and Carter Mottice (.500, 3-for-6) are the only other two Falcons with more than two base hits through the opening three games.
 
BG's pitching staff had a tough opening-weekend against the nationally-ranked ACC foe, surrendering 50 runs – 41 of which were earned – on 51 hits, including 13 doubles and three home runs on a .464 average. Falcon hurlers walked 31 batters and plunked 11, adding to the struggles that resulted in a 16.52 collective ERA in a small sample size against the offensive-minded Yellow Jackets.
 
The Falcons were selected fifth in the Mid-American Conference (MAC), while also earning one of 12 votes to earn the MAC tournament championship. Miami (Ohio) collected six of the 12 first-place votes to finish ahead of Kent State, which had four first-place nods. Ball State was tabbed third overall, with Tuesday's foe – Akron – picked 10th out of the 12-team league.
 
Of note, Bowling Green is just one win shy of earning the 1,800th in program history, dating back to 1915.
 
Western Carolina vs. Bowling Green – Series History:
This weekend marks just the second three-game series between the Catamounts and Falcons all-time, and the first since 2009. Each series meeting has been played in Cullowhee, as WCU swept the first three-game set, winning 16-8, 4-1, and 14-5 at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
 
All told, WCU outscored BG 34-14 over the first three-game series, while also outhitting the Falcons 37-18. Bowling Green hit five home runs for its only extra-base hits back in 2009, while WCU had 10 go for extra bases, including five doubles, a triple, and four homers.
 
On Deck for the Catamounts:
Western Carolina closes its four-game homestand as part of seven of its first eight games at home to start the season by hosting Akron on Tuesday at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m., and can be seen on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).
 
The Catamounts and Zips have met eight times since 2011, with WCU leading the series 5-3. It's the third-straight season that WCU and Akron have met on the diamond, splitting four meetings in Cullowhee in 2023, with WCU taking 2-of-3 at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, last April.
 
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