Charleston, S.C. – Walker Fox finished a triple shy of the cycle with a career-high seven RBI, and
Jaylen Jones delivered his second home run in as many days as part of a four RBI effort as Western Carolina blitzed The Citadel early, riding big innings to a 16-3, seven-inning win Sunday afternoon in Southern Conference play at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park.
Fox doubled home two runs in the top of the first inning before capping a seven-run second with a grand slam home run, just six batters after
Jaylen Jones laced a two-run blast over the wall in left field as the Catamounts pounced on the Bulldogs, 9-1, over the opening two frames. Jones delivered a two-run single in the fourth before a five-run fifth inning provided the final tally, as WCU salvaged the game three victory.
Only three of WCU's 13 base hits went for extra bases, coming on the 4-for-5 effort by Fox, with a double and a homer, and the second-inning homer by
Jaylen Jones. Sunday's seven RBI for Fox are the most by a Catamount in a game since former catcher Luke Robinson drove home eight in a 21-0 victory in seven innings over The Citadel in Charleston on May 21, 2021.
Fox, who scored a team-high three runs, led four Catamounts with multiple hits, followed by Jones, who reached base three times in a 2-for-4 effort, adding a walk. Fifth-year seniors
Trent Turner and
Mason Holton both finished 2-for-5, with Turner collecting an RBI in the winning effort to round out the quartet.
Jackson Lyda (1-for-3) reached base three times with a single, a walk, and an HBP, while
Noah Quarless (1-for-4) reached base twice with an RBI single and a base on balls.
Wyatt Stanley and
Cole Jones both walked twice as the opportunistic Catamounts capitalized on eight walks and three Bulldog errors.
Two Catamount pitchers – starter
Evan Myers (3-1) and reliever
Kaden Fuller – limited the Bulldogs to three runs on five hits spread between five different players in the win, with Jayden Williams (1-for-2) doubling in reaching base twice, and TJ Anderson (1-for-1) legged out a triple and walked twice to reach base three times. Phillips Daniels and Lane Tobin collected the only two RBI for the home squad in the loss, which halted a four-game win streak.
Myers held the Bulldogs to three runs – only two earned – on five hits over five innings in the erratically paced start, delayed by elongated top halves of innings. He worked around four walks with a strikeout, and benefited from two double-plays. Fuller recorded his first three strikeouts of the season in tossing two hitless, scoreless relief innings, maneuvering around a pair of walks.
Fox gave the Catamounts a lead they would never relinquish in the top of the first inning, dropping a double into the right-field corner to score
Wyatt Stanley and
Jackson Lyda for the 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs scratched a run back in the home half of the first on an infield single, but Myers initiated a double-play with catcher
Noah Quarless and first baseman
Noah Quarless to squelch the rally and preserve the lead after one.
WCU (18-11, 3-3 SoCon) blew the game open in the second inning, extending the lead to 4-1 on a
Jaylen Jones two-run homer following a lead-off walk by
Cole Jones.
Trent Turner singled into left to bring
Trey Spees home for a 5-1 cushion. Then, with Lyda, Stanley, and Turner on board, Fox uncorked a monster blast to right field on the first pitch of his second at-bat for the grand slam homer and the 9-1 lead.
After The Citadel converted a Jayden Williams double into a run to make it 9-2 in the third, the Catamounts tacked on a pair of insurance markers in the fourth. Fox reached on a single, and
Cole Jones extended the inning by reaching on an infield error.
Jaylen Jones then scored them both on a single into left for an 11-2 lead, which ultimately stood at 11-3 after four complete.
Western Carolina pushed the game out of reach in the top of the fifth with a decisive two-out rally, spurred by three-consecutive singles by Turner, Holton, and Fox, the latter making it 12-3. A balk plated a second run in the frame before Quarless bounced a seeing-eye single between two Bulldog defenders on the left-side of the infield for a 14-3 edge. Spees then capped the scoring with a two-run single to right for the 16-3 edge.
Myers navigated around a bases-loaded jam of his own making in the bottom of the fifth, inducing an infield 4-6-3 double-play after walking two and plunking one with one out. Fuller collected a pair of strikeouts in stranding a pair of runners in the sixth inning before circumventing a two-out walk to end the game in seven with a routine fly to right field.
The Citadel starter Jacob Deacon (0-1) suffered the loss, surrendering five runs on two hits with three walks and a strikeout. Five different Bulldog relievers saw action in the loss, with Steven Trone tossing a team-best 3.1 innings, allowing four runs – two earned – on five hits with a strikeout. Liam Foley worked around two hits and a walk in 1.1 relief innings without surrendering a run, with Mason Yokum striking out one in an inning of hitless, scoreless relief.
Western Carolina steps out of Southern Conference play and right into the heart of the Big South Conference for its next five games, two of which are at home. The Catamounts host Presbyterian on Tuesday, March 31 (5 p.m.) on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required) and USC Upstate a week later, on Tuesday, April 7 (5 p.m.), with a three-game series at Winthrop (April 2-4) sandwiched in between.
The trio of games against the Eagles is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday in Rock Hill, S.C., with weekday starts of 6 p.m. and a Saturday 2 p.m. first pitch. It's the first series meeting between WCU and Winthrop since 2014.
The consecutive Tuesday meetings against Presbyterian and USC Upstate, respectively, are part of a home-and-home series. WCU visits PC on May 12, while the Catamounts look to avenge an early-season road loss against Upstate.
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).
