Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina baseball returns to action on Friday following the squad's longest layover of the regular season, traveling to Spartanburg, S.C., to face the Wofford Terriers in a pivotal Southern Conference series. The first pitch at Russell C. King Field is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Friday, with a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1 p.m. finale on Sunday.
 
Live streaming audio of all three games from the Catamount Sports Network, as well as live stats links, are available online at CatamountSports.com. Games on Saturday and Sunday are scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).
 
Western Carolina last played on Sunday (April 26) when the Catamounts claimed a 13-2 victory over ETSU in seven innings to claim the league series over the Buccaneers, its first since 2017, and first in Cullowhee since 2016. WCU has won five of its last six games overall, and nine of its last 11 since sweeping Mercer in mid-April. Four of the WCU's wins were mercy-rule efforts.
 
Noting WCU: Baseball Advances in Power Rankings, SoCon Standings
 
Wofford (30-15, 8-4 SoCon) is mired in a four-game winless drought that has come on the heels of a nine-game winning streak. Among those nine victories were a combined four run-ruled wins over UNC Asheville and Queens. However, the Terriers were swept at Mercer in league play last weekend and were blanked, 6-0, by Gardner-Webb at home on Tuesday.
 
WCU enters the week second in the SoCon in the latest NCAA RPI at No. 54, one of four conference teams in the Top 100 of the index. The Catamounts are just behind Mercer (52), despite sweeping the Bears in head-to-head play this season. That duo is joined by The Citadel (66) and ETSU (89). Following its midweek loss to the Runnin' Bulldogs, Wofford (101) slipped just outside the Top 100, with Samford close behind at 104.
 
Projected Pitching Matchups:
Friday, May 1 – 5:30 p.m. (Listen to CSN)
WCU – Soph. RHP Carter Burnette (11 app., 11 GS – 2-5, 6.63 ERA, 57.0 IP, 50K, 22BB)
WOF – Jr. RHP Alec Bouchard – (11 app., 11 GS – 7-2, 1.78 ERA, 60.2 IP, 72K, 19BB)
 
Saturday, May 2 – 2 p.m. (Watch ESPN / Listen to CSN)
WCU – Jr. RHP James Fordham (14 app., 6 GS – 4-3, 5.10 ERA, 47.2 IP, 35K, 21BB)
WOF – Soph. RHP Cullen Condon – (9 app., 9 GS – 5-2, 39.2 IP, 32K, 18BB)
 
Sunday, May 3 – 1 p.m. (Watch ESPN / Listen to CSN)
WCU – Fr. LHP Evan Myers (12 app., 10 GS – 4-1, 4.61 ERA, 41.0 IP, 34K, 24BB)
WOF – Sr. RHP John Gray – (12 app., 5 GS – 1-2, 7.56 ERA, 25.0 IP, 32K, 11BB)
 

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Around the Southern Conference:
With a series in hand and the first team to double-digit victories in league play, Western Carolina enters the week atop the SoCon standings, though three teams – WCU (10-5), Samford (8-4), and Wofford (8-4) – each have a .667 winning percentage. ETSU (9-6) is fourth, just ahead of fifth-place Mercer (7-5), which played its way back into the conversation by sweeping Wofford in Macon, Ga., last weekend.

As has been the trend for much of this season, six of the eight SoCon teams are in action against league foes, with two stepping outside the conference. In a matchup of the two preseason favorites, red-hot Mercer carries its eight-game win streak to Samford, winners of three in a row. Two SoCon three-win squads meet in Greensboro as VMI visits UNCG, with WCU meeting Wofford in a matchup at the opposite end of the spectrum.
 
The out-of-conference weekend play includes ETSU heading north to face UConn in Storrs, Conn., while The Citadel and Presbyterian play a three-game series split between Clinton and Charleston, playing twice at PC.
 

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Remaining SoCon Schedules (records entering this week):
WCU (10-5) – at Wofford (8-4), vs. UNCG (3-12)
- Max Wins: 16
- Tiebreakers: Mercer (3-0), Samford (2-1), ETSU (2-1), VMI (2-1)
 
WOF (8-4) – vs. WCU (10-5) vs. ETSU (), at Samford (8-4)
- Max Wins: 17
- Tiebreakers: UNCG (3-0), VMI (2-1), The Citadel (3-0)
 
SAM (8-4) – vs. Mercer (7-5), at The Citadel (6-9), vs. Wofford (8-4)
- Max Wins: 17
- Tiebreakers: VMI (3-0), UNCG (3-0)
 
ETSU (9-6) – at Wofford (8-4), vs. Mercer (7-5)
- Max Wins: 15
- Tiebreakers: UNCG (2-1), VMI (2-1), SAM (2-1), CIT (2-1)
 
MER (7-5) – at Samford (8-4), vs. VMI (3-9), at ETSU (9-6)
- Max Wins: 16
- Tiebreakers: CIT (2-1), UNCG (2-1), WOF (3-0)
 
CIT (6-9) – vs. Samford (8-4), at VMI (3-9)
- Max Wins: 12
- Tiebreakers: WCU (2-1), UNCG (2-1)
 
VMI (3-9) – at UNCG (3-12), at Mercer (7-5), vs. The Citadel (6-9)
- Max Wins: 12
- Tiebreakers: none
 
UNCG (3-12) – vs. VMI (3-9), at Western Carolina (10-5)
- Max Wins: 9
- Tiebreakers: none Catamount Baseball Diamond Notes:

• Over its last 10 games, Western Carolina has gone 8-2 overall and has experienced a power surge, batting .340 (116-for-341) with 51 extra-base hits – 22 doubles, four triples, and 25 home runs … WCU has averaged 10.7 runs on 11.6 hits during the 10-game stretch … Seven Catamounts have multiple home runs and three have legged-out triples … As a pitching staff, WCU has struck out 72 while holding the opposition to 5.2 runs on 7.9 hits, with a .259 batting average against;
• Trent Turner enters the week riding a team-long 11-game hitting streak, WCU's only double-digit streak this season … During his torrid upswing, he has also eclipsed Wyatt Stanley – injured since XX – with a 22-game reached base safely streak … Jackson Lyda has WCU's only other double-figure RBS at 13-straight, that coming on the heels of his season-best 19-game streak;
• Since batting a season-low .179 back on March 7, Trent Turner enters the week hitting .319, raising his average 140 points over the last 28 games;
• Seven of Western Carolina's final 11 games will be played away from Cullowhee, including a stretch of seven of the next eight on the road … WCU visits Wofford this weekend and travels to ACC-foe Wake Forest (May 8-10) over the next two weekends … WCU has Wofford (May 1-3) and UNCG (May 14-15) to conclude its Southern Conference schedule;
• In SoCon play, WCU has FIVE players batting over the .300 threshold, including fifth-year senior second baseman Trent Turner – second in the league at .459 and tied with 28 base hits … Turner has a league-best 21 RBI in SoCon play … Senior outfielder Cole Jones is fifth batting .395 with eight extra-base hits, followed by Trey Spees (6th, .385) … Noah Quarless and Jaylen Jones are both hitting .340 against league teams;
• Redshirt sophomore RHP Carter Burnette ranks ninth in the SoCon with a WCU-best 50 strikeouts … Mason Snyder is tied for fourth with 13 strikeouts looking;
• Reliever Mason Snyder continues to boast the top ERA in the Southern Conference this season with a 1.58 … Snyder also boasts a 6-0 record, with his six victories ranked tied for third … His six victories are the most for league pitchers without a loss.

Scouting Wofford:
Picked eighth in the SoCon preseason poll, the Terriers were the first league team to reach 30 wins this season. And, up until last weekend, when they were swept at Mercer, the Terriers had flipped the preseason polling script as they sat atop the conference standings. Wofford enters the weekend tied with WCU and Samford for first based on percentage points and sharing a matching record with the Bulldogs.
 
The Terriers boast the SoCon's top pitching staff with a 4.31 collective ERA over 374 innings, with the second-most strikeouts with 365 against the second-fewest walks at 147, second only to WCU, which has issued a league-low 146 free passes. The Terriers have held opponents to a .259 batting average against collectively on the season, and limited league foes to .256.
 
WCU's offense could threaten the Terrier pitching staff based on its performance in SoCon play to date. The Catamounts are batting .329 against conference pitching with a league-best 53 extra-base hits – third with 29 doubles, first with five triples, and second with 28 home runs.
 
As a team, Wofford ranks second in the SoCon with a .301 team batting average and is second with 96 doubles and a league-high-tying 15 triples. The Terriers have scored 372 runs, second in the SoCon, averaging 8.3 runs on 9.4 hits per game.
 
Three Terriers were named preseason All-SoCon – reliever Champ Davis was a first-team selection, while first-baseman James Layman and second-baseman Tanner Hardin were second-team selections. Ben Timblin earned Player of the Week honors back on April 6, while starter Alex Bouchard – a front-runner for Pitcher of the Year accolades with a league-best seven wins and 72 strikeouts – collected pitcher plaudits on April 13.
 
Western Carolina vs. Wofford – All-Time Series:
The Catamounts lead the series against Wofford, 80-30-1, including a 33-14-1 mark in games played in Spartanburg. WCU took 2-of-3 from the Terriers a season ago in Cullowhee, capped by a 15-5 victory in eight innings in the series finale. In the most recent meeting in Spartanburg, WCU dropped the series opener in seven innings before rallying to claim the series with a 7-2 win on Saturday and an 8-5 win on Sunday.
 
Since playing to a rain-shortened 2-2 draw in seven innings back in 2022, the last 10 series meetings have been split evenly, 5-5.
 
On Deck for Western Carolina:
Following three games in Spartanburg, the Catamounts return home to wrap up the nonconference home-and-home by hosting mountain-rival UNC Asheville on Tuesday, May 5, at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast regionally on TheCW62 (check local listings), and simulcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). WCU dropped the first meeting against Asheville back on March 24, snapping a six-game series win streak.
 
WCU then travels to Wake Forest (30-17) for a three-game set, May 8-10, with a pair of 6 p.m. games on Friday and Saturday, followed by a 1 p.m. series finale on Sunday. The Demon Deacons are solidly inside the national Top 20 in RPI entering the week.
 
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