Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball scored in five of the six innings it took swings, with all nine Catamounts collecting an RBI to claim Sunday's series finale over mountain rival East Tennessee State 13-2 in a run-ruled seven-inning Southern Conference victory at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
The Catamounts and Buccaneers split Friday's doubleheader, with WCU winning 14-10 and ETSU squeezing out a 4-3 victory that forced Sunday's rubber match. Western Carolina claimed the crucial conference series, and coupled with Mercer sweeping Wofford in Macon, Ga., moved atop the SoCon standings entering May.
Sunday capped WCU's first series victory over ETSU since 2017, when the Catamounts swept the Bucs in Johnson City. It was WCU's first series victory in Cullowhee since 2016, when the home squad took 2-of-3.
Walker Fox finished a triple shy of the cycle in Sunday's win, doubling in the first inning before belting a three-run home run as part of a three-hit, four-RBI effort that led five Catamounts with multi-hit games as the Purple & Gold rapped out 14 base hits. Fox homered in the five-run second inning that handed WCU the lead for good.
Mason Holton (2-for-5) doubled in his two-hit outing, and
Trey Spees (2-for-4) singled twice with a late RBI.
Jaylen Jones (2-for-4) and
Cam Murray (2-for-4) both reached three times, drawing a walk to go along with a pair of singles.
Jackson Lyda also reached base three times with a pair of walks and an HBP, with
Noah Quarless (1-for-3) walking twice before singling in the sixth inning.
Cole Jones reached twice with a walk and a double, while
Trent Turner (1-for-3) was plunked and singled, driving in a run on a second-inning sacrifice fly.
ETSU (26-15, 9-6 SoCon) finished with 10 hits on the day, but stranded a staggering 14 base runners in the loss. The Bucs left runners on base in six of the seven innings, including leaving them loaded in three straight frames from the third through fifth.
Luke Matlock (2-for-4) led off the second inning with a solo home run as part of his two-hit effort, while Tristan Curless (2-for-4) singled twice. Curless lined into WCU's lone double-play in the fourth inning, which helped curtail a Buccaneer rally. Jamie Palmese (1-for-3) and Axel Melendez (1-for-2) both doubled in the loss.
WCU used a two-out rally in the first inning as
Walker Fox doubled before being plated two batters later by
Jaylen Jones for the 1-0 lead after one. However, Matlock knotted the game with a solo blast in the top of the second inning.
In the decisive bottom of the second, the first four Catamounts reached successfully, with
Cole Jones and Murray both drawing walks before Spees placed a would-be sacrifice bunt perfectly on the third-base line. Lyda was plunked to drive in the go-ahead run, with Turner lifting a sacrifice fly to deep left. Fox then uncorked his eighth home run of the season to cap the frame with a 6-1 lead.
The Catamounts tacked on two runs in the third on a run-scoring single by Fox and a productive groundout by Quarless. ETSU got its second run across in the fourth on a base knock by Henry Ferguson, but the Curless line-drive double-play to Lyda thwarted any further damage.
WCU got the marker back in the home half of the fourth coming on consecutive doubles from Holton and
Cole Jones, the latter scoring a run. Murray then bounced a single perfectly down the first-base line to score Jones from second.
The Catamounts capped their scoring with a three-spot in the fifth inning, capitalizing on a two-base throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt with Spees singling home the final run.
Freshman starter
Evan Myers (4-1) was credited with the victory, tossing a team-long 4.1 innings in the seven-inning affair. He scattered 10 hits and worked around two walks and three HBPs to limit the Bucs to just two runs.
Shane Huntsberger put out the fifth-inning fire with a pair of strikeouts, including a huge swinging K on ETSU slugger Curless that stranded the bases loaded.
Griffin Guinther struck out one in an inning out of the bullpen, with
Ryan White closing the game with a 1-2-3 seventh, collecting a strikeout.
ETSU rookie starter Cooper Jones (3-2) was saddled with the loss, chased in the second inning after issuing two walks, an HBP, and the bunt single by Spees. Jones was tagged for five runs on three hits with a trio of walks and one strikeout. Seven Buccaneer relievers pieced together the remaining five frames with Andrew Cotton collecting the only other strikeout in an inning of two-hit, scoreless relief.
Western Carolina (29-16, 10-5 SoCon) is idle in the midweek before heading to Spartanburg, S.C., to face the Wofford Terriers (30-14, 8-4 SoCon) in another crucial conference showdown. The three-game series at the on-campus Russell C. King Field is scheduled for May 1-3, with a 5:30 p.m. start on Friday, a 2 p.m. first pitch on Saturday, and a 1 p.m. finale on Sunday.
WCU has won the last two series against the Terriers, winning 2-of-3 in Cullowhee last spring and winning two in its last visit to Spartanburg in 2024.
All three series games are slated to be broadcast on the Catamount Sports Network with live streaming audio and live stats available online at CatamountSports.com. Games on Saturday and Sunday are scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required).
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