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 WCU head baseball coach Bobby Moranda (right) talking with former Catamount standout and skipper, Todd Raleigh (left) prior to last season's game in Knoxville. |
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March 24, 2009
Knoxville, Tenn. - Western Carolina (15-5) steps out of conference for the first of two mid-week games on Tuesday night as it visits the Tennessee Volunteers and former skipper, Todd Raleigh, at 7:00 pm at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Tuesday's game will be broadcast on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee with air time at 6:45 pm and first pitch at 7:00 pm. The game can also be heard online at www.WWCUFM.com, or followed via live GameTracker at CatamountSports.com.
Catamount senior RHP Corey Martin (4-1, 5.40 ERA) is scheduled to get the start for Western. The Yadkinville, N.C., native has served as the Sunday starter each of the past three seasons, but has struggled in his last two weekend starts. He only lasted 1.2 innings last Sunday against The Citadel, prompting the coaching staff to use him in the starting role on Tuesday.
WCU, which won last year's meeting 5-2, has won four of its last five on the season while the Vols (9-12) were swept last weekend by No. 25 Florida marking the first series sweep of UT by the Gators since 2003.
Raleigh, who played at Western from 1988-91 and earned first-team All-Southern Conference honors as a senior in 1991, is in his second season with Tennessee. He was an assistant coach at WCU from 1993-94, and returned to become the head coach in 2000. Raleigh ranks second all-time at Western Carolina with 257 career victories.
WCU continues its nonconference mid-week action on Wednesday by hosting Kennesaw State at 6:00 pm at Childress Field at Hennon Stadium.
WESTERN CAROLINA VS. TENNESSEE - THE SERIES:
Western Carolina steps out of conference for the first of two mid-week games this week as it visits the Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday night at 7:00 pm at Lindsey Nelson Stadium ... WCU trails in the all-time series with the Vols, 3-16, after winning last year's game in Knoxville, 5-2 ... The victory snapped an eight-game losing skid to the Volunteers.
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FAMILIAR FACES:
Current Tennessee head coach Todd Raleigh and assistant Bradley LeCroy both coached the Catamounts in 2007, garnering an at-large bid to the NCAA Baseball Tournament ... Raleigh compiled a 257-207 career record and 132-101 SoCon ledger during eight seasons as the head coach in Cullowhee ... Raleigh ranks second all-time in school history behind current Clemson coach Jack Leggett with 302 career wins in nine seasons ... Current WCU assistant Alan Beck was an assistant at Tennessee last season under Raleigh.
NOTING THE CATAMOUNTS:
* Western Carolina enters the mid-week series coming off a 4-1 week last week including home wins over UNC Asheville and High Point, and taking two of three in the series with The Citadel in Cullowhee ... It was WCU's third-straight series victory over the Bulldogs;
* With the three-game sweep of Appalachian State to open conference, Western Carolina has now won its SoCon home-opening series in each of the past five years, taking two of three from UNC Greensboro a season ago and sweeping The Citadel in 2007; Wofford in 2006; and Appalachian State back in 2005;
* The three-game, SoCon-opening series sweep of Appalachian State also extended Western's dominance in the series at home ... ASU has not won a series in Cullowhee since 1996;
* Western Carolina has received votes in the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll (54th overall) this season ... WCU had been receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today poll after taking two of three from No. 24 USC;
* With Western's three-game, season-opening sweep of Bowling Green, it marked the first-time since the 2002 season that the Catamounts had opened the season with a three-game series sweep.
MASTERS, NOTARO GARNER SOCON WEEKLY NOD:
WCU swept the weekly awards from the Southern Conference this week as junior Stephen Notaro was named Player of the Week and Chris Masters brought home Pitcher of the Week accolades ... It is the fifth weekly SoCon honor of Masters' career and second for WCU this season ... The award for Notaro is his career first, and the first for a Catamount since Kenny Smith garnered his second of two weekly honors in the next-to-last week (May 14) of the 2007 season ... Notaro led Western Carolina with a .529 batting average (9-of-17) last week with five of his nine hits going for extra bases and nine RBI as the Catamounts posted a 4-1 record overall. Notaro recorded two doubles and belted three home runs for a team-leading 1.176 slugging percentage; Masters struck out a career-best 11 batters in his first career complete game, holding The Citadel to a single run while scattering six base hits in a 3-1 win. The left-hander limited the potent Bulldogs offensive line up to a .188 batting average with one walk, inducing two inning-ending double-plays in both the third and eighth innings.
MISC. CATAMOUNT STATS:
* As a team, Western Carolina has posted double-digit hits in 14 of its 20 games to date - including a stretch of seven-straight that ended last Friday ... the Catamounts have scored in double figures six times, all victories and all at home;
* 34-percent of WCU's base hits this season have gone for extra bases: 76 extra base hits (51 2B, 7 3B, 18 HRs) in 224 total base hits;
* Entering this week, WCU ranks 2nd in team batting average (.322) and 3rd in team ERA (4.30).
WESTERN 30TH OVERALL, 2ND IN SOCON RPI:
According to the most recent college baseball RPI rankings through BoydsWorld.com (unofficial), Western Carolina is ranked 30th in the nation in terms of RPI ... College of Charleston leads the SoCon with a sixth-place rating, while Elon (46), The Citadel (78) and Georgia Southern (85) rank inside the Top 100 ... Tennessee is 96th in RPI on the same chart ... The Southern Conference is ranked seventh out of the 31 NCAA Division I baseball conferences.
