Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball closes its season-opening stretch on Tuesday, where seven of the team's first eight games were scheduled for home, as the Catamounts welcome a second-straight Mid-American Conference foe to town, hosting the Akron Zips at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
Tuesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats available through links at CatamountSports.com. Tickets are available online at CatamountSports.com/BuyTickets.
 
Western Carolina (5-2) looks to close the home-heavy opening to the season on the right foot, entering the week 5-1 at home with a three-game sweep of George Washington and taking 2-of-3 last weekend from MAC foe, Bowling Green. Akron (3-4) opens with 12-straight away from home, including five-straight in the Old North State this week. The Zips head to Raleigh on Wednesday to face NC State before a weekend tilt against North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.
 
Entering the week, seven of the eight Southern Conference teams have overall records of .500-or-better through the first two weeks of the regular season.
   
About Western Carolina:
The Catamounts raised their collective seasonal batting average to .269 over the weekend against Bowling Green, now with three hitting over .300 to start the season. Noah Quarless, the SoCon's first player of the week, stayed hot with a conference-leading .563 (9-for-16) average, with five of his nine hits going for extra bases – three doubles and two homers. He is second on the team with eight RBI, one behind Wyatt Stanley, who collected seven hits last week to catapult his seasonal average to .435 (10-for-23) with two doubles and a pair of round-trippers. Quarless is riding a team-best six-game hitting streak, while Mason Holton has reached base safely in a team-best seven-straight.
 
Holton returns as one of WCU's top hitters from the 2023 three-game meeting with Akron, finishing 6-for-12, with a pair of doubles and four RBI.
 
Also improving his seasonal average over the weekend was Jackson Lyda, who doubled twice to move to .353 (6-for-17). Trent Turner (.286) is third on the team with eight hits, with a double and a homer, as the Catamounts have 21 extra-base hits – 15 doubles and six home runs.
 
WCU's pitching staff has a combined 71 strikeouts to open the season, second only to UNCG (72) in the SoCon. A total of 28 of the 71 Ks have been looking, also second in the conference. Weekend starter Carter Burnette is tied for the league lead with 16 strikeouts, with reliever Mason Snyder and Sunday starter Evan Myers tied for 10th with 10 Ks.
 
Scouting the Opposition – Akron Zips:
Akron comes to Cullowhee after dropping 2-of-3 to Western Illinois over the weekend at the Team USA Complex in Millington, Tenn., after splitting its season-opening series at Presbyterian. The Zips are batting .262 collectively as a team with 60 hits, with 24 going for extra bases, including 16 doubles, a triple, and seven home runs. The squad has averaged 6.9 runs per game through its first seven games, with a season high of nine runs and one shutout victory – 5-0 over Western Illinois.
 
Four Zips are batting over .300, led by Brennan Morgan, who is 12-for-24 (.500) with four doubles and seven RBI. Brody Chrisman has a team-best three home runs and eight RBI, batting .357 (10-of-28), with Henry Hayman (.316) and Kelton Phillips (.310) rounding out the quartet. Preseason All-MAC selection Easton Amundson is batting .227 to start the season, with three of his five hits going for extra bases.
 
As a staff, Akron has a 7.11 collective ERA over 55.2 total innings, countering 42 walks with 52 total strikeouts. Opponents are batting just .275 against the Zips entering the week.
 
Akron represents WCU's second opponent out of the Mid-American Conference after the Catamounts took 2-of-3 from Bowling Green last weekend, a team picked fifth in the preseason coaches poll. Akron was tabbed 10th in the 12-team preseason voting, just a couple of points removed from the Top 10 in the eyes of the league's coaches.
 
Series History – Western Carolina vs. Akron:
Western Carolina and Akron meet for the third time in the last four seasons in a series that dates to 2011, with a neutral field meeting in Forest City, N.C. Tuesday marks the ninth head-to-head matchup with the Catamounts holding a 5-3 series lead. The two squads split four meetings in Cullowhee back in 2023, with the Catamounts taking 2-of-3 from the Zips at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, last April. Akron claimed the most recent meeting, 15-8, in the finale in Ohio last spring.
 
On Deck for the Catamounts:
Western Carolina travels to Greenville, N.C., this weekend for three games in East Carolina's Keith LeClair Classic at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Catamounts face Troy (Fri., Feb. 27) and Rutgers (Sat., Feb. 28) at Noon on the first two days of the event before facing the host Pirates on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).