Western Carolina University

Cullowhee, N.C. – Noah Quarless belted a three-run home run in the fourth inning as Western Carolina evened its best-of-three series on Friday evening, upending UNC Greensboro 4-1 in Southern Conference action at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
 
Jaylen Jones singled, and Trent Turner doubled ahead of Quarless in the decisive fourth as the Winston-Salem, N.C., product homered to left-center field to push the Catamounts ahead, 4-0. UNCG capitalized on a late fielding miscue to put a runner aboard in the ninth, with Luke Holland lifting a sacrifice fly to deep center that provided the final tally.
 
With the victory, the Catamounts locked themselves into one of the top two seeds in next week's SoCon Baseball Championship, presented by Holston Gases at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., earning a bye until Thursday, May 21. A WCU win on Saturday, coupled with a Mercer loss at ETSU (1 p.m.) to end the regular season, would knot the two atop the league standings with the teams sharing the regular-season championship. The Catamounts swept the Bears in the Cullowhee meeting, ultimately giving them the top seed in the tournament.
 
The WCU-UNCG series concludes on Saturday at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online at CatamountSports.com. WCU will honor eight seniors ahead of the first pitch on Senior Day.
 
All nine Catamount batters collected a hit in Friday's victory, with Jaylen Jones (2-for-4) doubling in a two-hit effort and Wyatt Stanley (2-for-2) reaching base three times with a pair of singles and a walk. Quarless (1-for-4) hit his second homer of the series, while Turner (1-for-4) legged out a double in the winning effort.
 
Trey Spees put the Catamounts on the board in the third inning, following consecutive singles by Cole Jones and Stanley with a sacrifice fly to left that pushed Jones across the plate for the 1-0 lead after three, ahead of WCU's fourth-inning offense.
 
WCU finished with 10 base hits after being limited to just two in Thursday's series opener.
 
For UNCG (22-30, 7-13 SoCon), Jacob Budzik collected half of the squad's six hits, finishing 3-for-4 with a pair of singles and a double. Jacob Dilley singled and scored the lone run for the Spartans on a sacrifice fly by Holland, who added a walk.
 
James Fordham (5-4) gave WCU its second straight quality start, scattering four hits over seven scoreless innings. The Chester, Ga., product worked around a trio of walks with four strikeouts in his longest outing of the season. Fordham limited UNCG to one extra-base hit, coming on a seventh-inning double. Mason Snyder tossed the final two innings, surrendering an unearned run on two hits.
 
WCU's defense turned a pair of double plays in the second and fourth innings to help stymie UNCG's offense and aid the pitching staff that has used just three arms through the first two games.
 
UNCG starter Mayson Dear (2-3) was tagged with the loss, allowing all four runs on six hits over three innings. Cannon Lee was impressive out of the bullpen, tossing the final five scoreless innings, countering a walk with seven strikeouts.
 
The WCU-UNCG series concludes on Saturday afternoon with a 2 p.m. start in Cullowhee.
 
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