Cullowhee, N.C. – Led by a trio of first-team selections, five Catamounts landed on the 2026 Preseason All-Southern Conference team announced on Thursday afternoon, as the conference office announced its official preseason predictions as selected by the league's eight head coaches.
 
Fifth-year senior infielder Trent Turner, senior left-handed starting pitcher Davis Wright, and sophomore infielder Trey Spees, recognized as the designated hitter, each landed on the first-team All-SoCon. Southpaw relief pitchers Owen Austin and Ryan White both collected second-team plaudits. The preseason honors were the first for four of WCU's five honorees, as Turner was a preseason second-team selection last spring.
 
Additionally, Western Carolina was picked fifth in the SoCon's Preseason Coaches' Poll, also released on Thursday.
 
An All-Defensive team selection a year ago, the two-time Brooks Wallace Award candidate and two-time team captain, Trent Turner, was selected as the top shortstop in preseason voting. He is coming off one of his best offensive seasons as well, batting a career-best .325 a year ago, finishing two-thirds of the way towards the WCU Triple Crown. The Waynesville, N.C., native collected 76 hits last spring, including 14 doubles, two triples, and a team-leading 14 home runs. He scored 58 runs while driving home a team-best 57.
 
Elected as this season's Leggett No. 7 Legacy recipient, Turner has been a stalwart on the left-side of the Catamount infield for the past two seasons. He has started all 112 games in a Catamount uniform, batting .313 over the past two years with 52 extra-base hits – 28 doubles, two triples, and 22 homers.
 
Davis Wright was selected to the first-team All-SoCon as a starting pitcher. He is expected to move into the top spot in the Catamount weekend rotation entering the season. The Ridgeway, S.C., product started 15 games a year ago, finishing 5-7 overall with a 4.50 collective ERA over a team-best 86.0 innings of work. He led the Catamounts with 88 strikeouts, including a SoCon-best 30 strikeouts looking, against only 26 total walks.
 
Last season, Wright struck out a career-high 11 in a 1-0 pitcher's duel at UNCG in mid-May before limiting Mercer to just three runs on seven hits in pacing WCU to a 10-3 victory over the Bears in the SoCon Tournament.
 
One of two Catamounts named to the 2025 SoCon All-Freshman team in the postseason, Trey Spees collected first-team Preseason All-SoCon in the DH position. Last year, the Denver, N.C., product was thrust into the starting lineup as a true freshman after the injury to classmate Jaylen Jones. He made 52 starts among his 56 games, 45 coming at second base, where Jones factors to return to this spring. Spees carried a .300-plus batting average into mid-April, finishing his rookie campaign at .287 with 11 extra-base hits, including six doubles, a triple, and four home runs. He scored 41 runs while driving in 30 on the year, including nine with two outs. Additionally, he bolstered his .408 on-base percentage with 28 walks and 10 HBPs.
 
WCU's second-team selections featured a pair of left-handed relievers in Owen Austin and Ryan White.
 
A transfer from Spartanburg Methodist ahead of last season, Austin finished second on the Catamount pitching staff with 22 appearances, including 18 in relief with four starts. He finished with a 3-2 overall record and a 5.85 ERA, tossing 40 total innings with 47 strikeouts against 31 walks. The southpaw was especially tricky for left-handed hitters, limiting them to a .190 (11-of-58) batting average against. A product of Easley, S.C., Austin struck out a career-high five batters three times a season ago – two in conference play against Mercer and Samford, with the third coming against Sun Belt Conference foe, Appalachian State.
 
Sixteen of White's 17 appearances last season came in relief, with one midweek start. He finished the year at 1-1 overall with a 6.33 ERA over 21.1 innings. The Randleman, N.C., product struck out 30 against just eight walks for a 3.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio, recording K's in 14 of his 17 appearances with multiple strikeouts nine times. A SoCon All-Freshman selection back in 2023, White has nine victories over 60 career appearances for the Purple & Gold.
 
All eight of the league's teams were represented between the two preseason all-conference teams, though only six comprised the first team. Samford and Mercer led with six preseason All-SoCon honorees apiece, the Bulldogs putting a league-best five on the first team, while Mercer had two on the first and four on the second. Western Carolina and ETSU both had the second-most, first-team honorees with three, and matched with five total selections. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.
 
VMI senior first-baseman Grayson Fitzwater collected the SoCon's Preseason Player of the Year honor, while Samford sophomore right-hander Mason Blasche, who went 10-0 in 16 appearances, including 11 starts, was dubbed the league's Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
Samford garnered four of the eight first-place votes to edge Mercer as the preseason favorite among the league's head coaches. The Bulldogs tallied 45 total points, one more than the Bears at 44, which included three first-place nods. ETSU (38) was tagged third, earning the eighth first-place tally. 
 
The Citadel (30) was picked fourth in the preseason, just ahead of WCU (24), with UNCG (16) eight points in arrears in sixth, followed by VMI (14) in seventh despite having the league's top player, and Wofford (13) rounding out the poll.
 
Western Carolina returns 25 players, including 13 letter-winning position players and 12 pitchers, from a 30-28 season a year ago, including 10 SoCon wins to claim the fifth seed 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, in last year's postseason classic.

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.
 
Opening on Friday, Feb. 13, seven of Western Carolina's first eight games will be played at home in Cullowhee, as the Catamounts host George Washington (Feb. 13-15) and Bowling Green (Feb. 20-22) in consecutive three-game weekend series, with Akron (Tues., Feb. 24) providing opposition in the first home midweek game.
 
Both season and single-game baseball 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. Season 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.

Fans can also purchase the "Baseball and Bo's Flex Tickets," presented by Bojangles of Sylva. This special flexible package includes 15 general admission ticket vouchers redeemable for any home baseball game and coupons for four FREE Cajun filet biscuits from Bojangles, all for just $50.
 
On Sunday, Feb. 8, Catamount baseball will hold a morning intrasquad scrimmage, followed by the annual "Little Catamounts" youth clinic at Childress Field. The clinic – open for kids ages 6-12 – follows the action on the field at 2:30 p.m., with a post-clinic autograph session with the Catamount baseball team. For questions or to register, contact Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing & Promotions Tyler Pope at tpope@wcu.edu.

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).
 
2026 SoCon Preseason Baseball Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses) 
1 – Samford (4) – 45
2 – Mercer (3) – 44
3 – ETSU (1) – 38
4 – The Citadel – 30
5 – Western Carolina – 24
6 – UNC Greensboro – 16
7 – VMI – 14
8 – Wofford – 13
 
Preseason Player of the Year: Grayson Fitzwater, Sr., 1B, VMI
Preseason Pitcher of the Year: Mason Blasche, So., RHP, Samford
 
Preseason All-SoCon First Team
SP – Mason Blasche, Samford
SP – Michael Harpster, ETSU
SP – Garrett Lambert, Mercer
SP – Davis Wright, Western Carolina
RP – Derek McCarley, ETSU
RP – Champ Davis, Wofford
RP – Collin Edwaldsen, Mercer
C – Cade Carr, Samford
1B – Grayson Fitzwater, VMI
2B – Jeffrey Ince, Samford
SS – Trent Turner, Western Carolina
3B – Parker McDonald, Samford
OF – Jake Souders, Samford
OF – Bradley Garner, VMI
OF – Jamie Palmese, ETSU
DH – Trey Spees, Western Carolina
 
Preseason All-SoCon Second Team
SP – Will Holmes, The Citadel
SP – Noah Chapman, UNCG
SP – Andrew Stanley, The Citadel
SP – Jess Ackerman, Mercer
RP – Braydon Kersey, Mercer
RP – Owen Austin, Western Carolina
RP – Ryan White, Western Carolina
C – Phillips Daniels, The Citadel
1B – James Layman, Wofford
1B – Tristan Curless, ETSU
2B – Tanner Hardin, Wofford
SS – Titan Kamaka, Mercer
3B – Brant Baughcum, Mercer
OF – Owen Prince, VMI
OF – Axel Melendez, ETSU
OF – TJ Anderson, The Citadel
DH – Trey Higgins, Samford