Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball opens a five-game swing against teams from the Big South Conference on Tuesday, first welcoming the Presbyterian Blue Hose to Childress Field / Hennon Stadium before opening a three-game series at Winthrop on Thursday in Rock Hill, S.C.
 
Tuesday's game marks the front end of a nonconference home-and-home with the Blue Hose, with the two scheduled to reconvene in Clinton, S.C., on May 12. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m., and will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats linked online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Western Carolina (18-11) halted a three-game slide with a resounding win 16-3 on Sunday at The Citadel, while Presbyterian (5-24) comes to Cullowhee after dropping 2-of-3 at Southern Conference foe, Samford, last weekend in Birmingham, Ala. The Blue Hose snapped a five-game skid with a series-opening victory at Samford, 7-5, before dropping the next two games.
 
Projected Pitching Match-Up:
PC: Senior RHP Eli Bowery – 10 app., 0 GS – 0-0, 0.93 ERA, 9.2 IP, 6K, 10BB
WCU: Freshman RHP Tyler Oaks – 4 app., 1 GS – 1-1, 4.91 ERA, 3.2 IP, 5K, 3BB
 
About Western Carolina:
The Catamounts return to the friendly confines of Childress Field / Hennon Stadium, where they have enjoyed much success this season, recording 12 of their 18 wins coming in 15 games (12-3).
 
WCU looks to improve upon a 1-3 effort last week, suffering a road loss at UNC Asheville, before dropping 2-of-3 at The Citadel in league play. The Catamounts collected 10 extra-base hits last weekend in Charleston, with five doubles and five home runs. Redshirt freshman Jaylen Jones hit the first two home runs of his collegiate career, while Walker Fox belted a grand slam home run in Sunday's victory over The Citadel.
 
Fox is coming off a very solid week that saw the Canton, N.C., product bat .467 (7-for-15), with a double and two home runs for a .933 slugging percentage. He also added three walks and an HBP to bolster a .579 on-base percentage. Fox drove in 11 runs last week, including a career-high seven in Sunday's series finale, moving into a tie for fifth in the SoCon with 30 runs driven in this season.
 
Three Catamount regulars are batting over .300 on the season as Western Carolina has raised its seasonal team batting average to .274 collectively. Jackson Lyda has a team-best .330 average, with Fox raising his mark 40 points last week to .315, with 16 extra-base hits – a team-best nine doubles (t-5th in the SoCon) and a team-best seven home runs, tied for seventh in the league. Jaylen Jones is batting .301, third among the regulars with 10 extra-base hits, eight doubles, and last weekend's two homers, and leads the squad with 10 stolen bases.
 
On the mound, WCU ranks fourth in the SoCon with a 5.29 collective earned run average and is third with 229 combined strikeouts, including a league-best 72 strikeouts looking. The staff has issued just 91 combined walks this season, the third-fewest behind VMI (90) and Wofford (86).
 
Additional Catamount Diamond Notes:

• Western Carolina enters the week with three players riding double-digit reached base safely streaks … Jackson Lyda has reached base in 17-consecutive games, while Wyatt Stanley and Jaylen Jones are both riding 14-game streaks … Trent Turner and Walker Fox have both strung together active six-game runs;
• The Catamounts have outscored the opposition in six of the nine innings to date this season, including a 10-run advantage, 31-21, in the fifth inning this season;
• WCU has only lost two games when trailing after six innings this season – 11-2 – with six come-from-behind victories when trailing after six innings (6-9) … WCU is also 9-2 when leading after seven and 10-0 when carrying a lead into the ninth;

Scouting Presbyterian:
The Blue Hose enter the week having lost six of their last seven games overall. Presbyterian is batting .250 collectively as a team, averaging 4.75 runs on 8.1 hits per game. The squad has surrendered an average of 8.3 runs on 10.6 hits per game, with opponents batting .319 collectively over the team's 29 games.
 
Freshman Bo Moody leads the Blue Hose in seven statistical categories, including a .340 batting average this season, collecting a team-best 32 hits, including 10 for extra bases with a triple and his nine doubles ranking seventh in the Big South. The conference Freshman of the Week on March 23, Moody ranks 10th in the Big South with a team-best .475 on-base percentage. PC has two players with four home runs apiece, with outfielders Amman Dewberry and Emory Guilford leading the team.
 
The fifth of six Big South Conference teams the Catamounts will play this season, Presbyterian, under the direction of longtime head coach Elton Pollock, was picked sixth in the preseason coaches' poll. Starting pitcher Tyrell Williams represented the Blue Hose on the all-league team in the preseason.
 
Common Ground:
The Catamounts and Blue Hose have five common opponents on the season – Akron, Appalachian State, The Citadel, Samford, and UNC Asheville. WCU is 5-4 in nine games against those common foes, while Presbyterian is 5-9 against the same teams. In the only series with the same number of meetings, the Catamounts took 2-of-3 from preseason SoCon favorite, Samford, while PC lost two in Birmingham.
 
Western Carolina vs. Presbyterian – Series History:
Tuesday's first of two scheduled meetings marks the 16th head-to-head match-up between the Catamounts and Blue Hose on the baseball diamond all-time, dating back to 1992. WCU leads the series, 11-4, including a 7-2 mark in games played in Cullowhee with three-straight victories. The Catamounts have won five-straight in the series overall, back to 2023.
 
On Deck for Western Carolina:
Following the one-game stop at home, the Catamounts return to the road for a three-game nonconference series against Winthrop (21-7) in Rock Hill, S.C. The Eagles host the College of Charleston on Tuesday before welcoming the Catamounts to town for a series that runs from Thursday through Saturday on Easter weekend. Winthrop was picked third in the preseason Big South Conference poll.
 
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