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 Western hosts High Point and Georgia Southern this week in Cullowhee to wrap up the 2007 regular season. |
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May 15, 2007
Cullowhee, N.C. - With its eyes fixed on the magical 40-win plateau and a chance at a share of its 11th Southern Conference regular season championship, the Western Carolina Catamount baseball embarks on the first of its final four regular season home dates tonight (Tuesday) at 7:00 pm at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium. WCU will host the High Point Panthers in non-conference action before entertaining the fifth-place Georgia Southern Eagles at week's end with first pitches slated for 7:00 pm both Thursday and Friday night and a 2:00 pm start on Saturday afternoon.
Coupled with UNC Greensboro's 2-1 series win over the College of Charleston, Western (37-15, 18-6 SoCon) moved into a tie for first-place in the league with its seventh-straight SoCon series victory - and fourth series sweep - of the year last weekend at Wofford. WCU is currently amidst a five-game winning streak and has earned victory in nine of its last 10 ball games.
Western opens the week with the High Point Panthers, a squad which it thumped, 15-8, on the road back on April 24. Including that game, the Panthers (25-27) have lost seven of their last nine, including two of three in Big South play against Charleston Southern last weekend. HPU did play nationally-ranked North Carolina to a 3-1 game in Chapel Hill during that span.
The Catamounts are 19-9 against non-conference opponents this season, including a 9-5 record at home and wins in five of its last six games out of league play.
Beginning Thursday, Western will host the Georgia Southern Eagles (31-24, 12-12 SoCon), who host the Mercer Bears on Tuesday night. The Catamounts trail by three games, 38-41, in the all-time series, but have taken two-straight over GSU despite dropping the seasonal series in Statesboro. Western prevented the sweep a year ago, salvaging Sunday's game before trouncing the Eagles, 13-3, which included 22 base hits in the Southern Conference tournament.
WCU has not won a seasonal-series against Georgia Southern, who is coached by former Catamount skipper Rodney Hennon, since sweeping GSU in Cullowhee back in 2003. This season, the Catamounts are 8-1 at home in SoCon play.
On Saturday, Western will honor its five seniors from the 2007 squad who will be playing their final games in Cullowhee. Seniors John Ingram, Tyler Johnson, Kenny Smith, Brock Thornburg and Donnie Wilson will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony.
Western must mirror or one-up the College of Charleston - which hosts ninth-place Davidson - on the weekend in order to have a chance at the regular season title. By virtue of its seasonal sweep, the Cougars hold the tie-breaker over the Catamounts in terms of winning the top-seed in next week's SoCon Baseball Championship tournament in at Riley Park in Charleston.
Fans can follow all four games this week with live GameTracker, presented by Carolina West Sports Medicine and West Care Health Systems, by logging on to www.CatamountSports.com.
Western Carolina Diamond Notes:
* According to the latest RPI numbers, Western Carolina ranks anywhere from 39th to 42nd in the nation, the second-best team in the Southern Conference behind the College of Charleston (29, 32) ... WCU and CofC each have identical 37-15 overall records and 18-6 league marks;
* For the second-time this season, Western Carolina is among those receiving votes to enter a national collegiate baseball poll ... the Catamounts were listed in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll ... WCU first appeared in the poll back on April 23 in the "others receiving votes" category;
* In the latest unofficial regional predictions by Rivals.com, the Catamounts are projected earn an at-large bid and be seeded third in the Columbia Regional, hosted by South Carolina with the Gamecocks, Georgia Tech and Central Michigan ... Western has been projected in each of the Columbia, Chapel Hill, Myrtle Beach and Nashville regional sites thus far this season;
* According to statistics gathered by WarrenNolan.com, aided by the nation's eighth-longest road winning streak (7-straight), Western ranks 10th in the nation in road game record (19-8, including 1-1 in neutral) ... the 19 victories away from home on the season by the Catamounts are second in the nation, just one behind Wichita State which is 20-7 ... the same web site lists WCU as the fourth-best scoring team in the nation, averaging 9.0 runs per game, with the 19th-best scoring margin, outscoring opponents by an average of 3.1 runs per outing;
* Western Carolina senior transfer Kenny Smith is closing in on several records as the regular season winds down ... the Asheville, N.C., native currently has 74 RBI, 10 shy of tying Chris Moore (1996-99) for the WCU single-season records and 13 runs driven in shy of tying College of Charleston's Chris Campbell for the SoCon seasonal benchmark of 87 set during the 2005 season ... Smith is also riding his - and WCU's - season-long 19-game hitting streak;
* Smith, who in addition to leading WCU in RBI also ranks atop the leader board in batting average (.420) and home runs (18), is on the brink of becoming the 13th Catamount to earn the school's "triple crown" for team-leads in average, RBI and HR ... the last player to accomplish the triple crown was junior Steven Strausbaugh who did it with a .367 average, 51 RBI and 12 home runs back in 2005;
* Speaking of Strausbaugh, the Venice, Fla., native has raised his batting average to above .300 on the season ... He has also hit a home run in seven of his past 10 games, including four-straight games and two in last Friday night's win over Wofford to raise his season tally to 11;
* Kenny Smith earned his second Southern Conference Player of the Week accolade this week after hitting .591 with 14 runs scored and 13 RBI in wins over Ohio State and Wofford ... junior Blake Murphy garnered national attention by being named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball after hitting six home runs in five games for a 1.611 slugging percentage;
* A quick check of the WCU single-season and career record books reveals the following: Having been hit with 19 pitches this season, junior Jonathan Greene tied Tim Hallam (2005-06) for the WCU single-season record and take over first-place in career HBP with 38 ... Greene's 31 career home runs additionally rank tied for 12th ... junior reliever Greg Holland's nine saves this year tie his career-high and rank tied for second on the WCU single-season chart ... Holland's 18 career saves rank fourth overall, four saves shy of first place ... junior Blake Murphy ranks tied for 10th on the WCU single-season walks list with 44 this season, while his 30 career home runs rank 14th ... junior Tyler Sexton ranks tied for 21st in career wins with 15 victories at WCU, and also ranks 22nd on the career strikeout chart with 145 ... junior Barrett Shaft ranks 18th on the career hits chart with 238 and counting, while also ranking 21st with 312 total career bases ... senior Kenny Smith ranks tied for third on the single-season doubles chart with his team-best 21; tied for third with 74 RBI; tied for 10th with four triples; tied for 14th with his team-best 18 home runs and tied for 20th with 65 runs scored this season ... junior Steven Strausbaugh ranks tied for 7th with 40 career home runs, ninth with 163 career RBI, and tied for 13th with 43 career doubles.
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