Baseball Set to Host Western Michigan on Tuesday, at Clemson on Wednesday

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team begins a busy week on Tuesday with a home tilt against Western Michigan set for 4 p.m. on ESPN+. The Blue Hose continue on Wednesday with a road matchup against Clemson on ACC Network Extra.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Western Michigan (3-7) vs Presbyterian (6-5)
WHERE: PC Baseball Complex (Clinton, S.C.)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 7th at 4 p.m.
THE SERIES (Since 2008): First All-Time Meeting

WHAT: Presbyterian at Clemson (5-6)
WHERE: Doug Kingsmore Stadium (Clemson, S.C.)
WHEN: Wednesday, March 8th at 4 p.m.
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Clemson Leads 10-4

FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast (Tues.) | Stat Broadcast (Wed.)
VIDEO: ESPN+ (Tues.) | ACC Network Extra (Wed.)
LIVE AUDIO: Fox Sports Spartanburg (98.3 FM, 1400 AM) (Wed. Only)
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes

ON THE MOUND
Tuesday
WMU –  RHP Nolan Vlcek (0-0, 21.60 ERA, 2 K)
PC – LHP Mason McDaniel (2-1, 8.38 ERA, 10 K)

Wednesday
PC –  TBA
CU – TBA

About the Blue Hose
• The Presbyterian College baseball teams closes out an eight home games in nine stretch on Tuesday with a matchup against Western Michigan in Clinton. PC then hits the road for five straight road games on Wednesday with a trip to Clemson on tap.

Scouting the Broncos
• Western Michigan comes into Tuesday's matchup winning its last three games over Bucknell twice and N.C. A&T. The Broncos opened the season with a three-game series at No. 1 LSU.
• WMU is led offensively by Will Morrison who's 16-for-37 (.432) to begin the 2023 season with nine RBIs thus far. Josh Swinehart sits at .300 as he's connected on a pair of homers.
• Cade Sullivan leads Western Michigan with four homers and 14 RBIs.
• On the mound, Jake Gernon leads the Broncos with 4.2 innings not allowing an earned run with three strikeouts. Swinehart has allowed one earned run over his two innings of work. Joe Shapiro has appeared in five games with three earned runs allowed over 5.1 innings of work for the Broncos.
• On Monday, Cade Sullivan was named MAC Co-Player of the Week as voted on by the conference office.

Head to Head vs the Broncos
• PC and Western Michigan meet on Tuesday for the first time in the two school's program history.

Scouting the Tigers
• Clemson begins the week with a 5-6 record following the Tigers dropping two-of-three to South Carolina over the weekend. The Tigers play host to ETSU on Tuesday before hosting PC on Wednesday afternoon.
• Cam Cannarella leads the Tigers with a .435 average over the first 11 games as he's knocked in nine runs and scored 12 thus far on the season. Blake Wright sits at a .381 average with five doubles, two homers and 11 runs knocked in. Cooper Ingle leads Clemson with three homers.
• Clemson sits ninth nationally in stolen bases with 30 on the year led by Benjamin Blackwell with nine steals.
• On the mound, Tristan Smith has tossed seven shutout innings over four outings including a pair of starts with nine strikeouts. Casey Tallent has seen action in five games with 9.2 innings pitched and two earned runs allowed with 10 strikeouts.

Head to Head vs the Tigers
• Clemson leads the head-to-head DI series 10-4 with the Tigers earning wins in each of the last two meetings. Clemson earned a 12-3 result last season before a 12-0 victory in March of 2020 that served as the final game of the 2020 season for Presbyterian.

Blue Hose in the Ranks
• Brody Fahr sits in a tie for second in the league with 17 hits on the season which includes 10 of those hits coming in the last four games.
• With his three home runs, Joel Dragoo is tied for sixth in the league with three long balls.
• Tanner Smith and Luke Gibson are tied for the league lead with two saves apiece.
• Fenix DiGiacomo and Mason McDaniel both are tied for third in the Big South with two wins each.

McDaniel Earns Big South Co-Freshman of the Week Honors
• Following six shutout innings in his first college start on Wednesday, Presbyterian College baseball freshman Mason McDaniel (Sanford, Fla.) has been named the Big South Co-Freshman of the Week for games played Feb. 20-26, as announced by the conference office on Monday.
• McDaniel dazzled in his first college start against Western Carolina on Wednesday as the Blue Hose left-hander tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in the victory over the Catamounts. He scattered just two hits and two walks throughout his outing to get the win. In the start Wednesday, he tallied six strikeouts in the first four innings while only allowing one hit and totaling three innings of three up and three down. McDaniel worked around a pair of baserunners in the fifth without harm before getting his final strikeout in the sixth to earn his first collegiate win.

Newcomers Getting PC Early Victories
• On Saturday, Blue Hose pitchers Fenix DiGiacomo and Luke Gibson started their Blue Hose careers strong as PC downed the Hoyas 5-2 in the middle game of the three-game weekend series. DiGiacomo got the ball rolling on Saturday with a start spanning 5.2 innings allowing four hits and one run en route to a victory in his PC debut. Gibson finished it off for the Blue Hose recording the final 10 outs allowing one solo home run and striking out four to earn the save. Gibson and DiGiacomo were teammates at Patrick Henry CC before coming to Clinton for the 2023 season.
• In his first college start on Wednesday, PC was led by freshman Mason McDaniel tossing six scoreless innings to lead Presbyterian to a 3-0 win over Western Carolina. McDaniel struck out eight Catamounts en route to his first college win on Wednesday afternoon. In relief work on Saturday vs Georgia State, McDaniel pitched the ninth inning before PC rallied to get the win leading to his second win of the season.

2023 Preseason Honors
• Catcher Dalton Reeves was named to the league's all-conference team as selected by Perfect Game.
• DI Baseball has tabbed a host of Blue Hose on the conference's top prospects in the next few drafts. RHP Duncan Howard, RHP Fenix DiGiacomo, Catcher Dalton Reeves, RHP Colbey Klepper, RHP Tanner Smith and OF Jay Wetherington were apart of the 2023 Draft Rankings.
• Joel Dragoo was tabbed by the publication in the 2024 Big South Prospect Rankings.
• Jake Randolph, Trey Fenderson and Amman Dewberry were selected to the Impact Freshman in the league on the list by DI Baseball.

Newcomers Join the Blue Hose Family
• Head Coach Elton Pollock was busy in the offsesaon with the addition of 16 new faces to the Blue Hose family.
• The incoming class includes Evan Cuervo, Jay Allred, Jake Randolph, Trey Fenderson, Travis Camp, William Nobles, Ryan Becker, Lorenzo Rios, Kyle Mueller, Luke Gibson, Tyler Mecchella, Fenix DiGiacomo, Mason McDaniel, Eli Bowery, Jeremiah Hampton, Amman Dewberry.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Joel Dragoo: INF; 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R

#2 Brody Fahr: INF; 5' 11"; Junior; L/R

#25 Duncan Howard: RHP; 6' 3"; Junior; R/R

#34 Colbey Klepper: RHP; 6' 4"; Senior; R/R

#32 Dalton Reeves: C; 6' 5"; Junior; L/R

#16 Tanner Smith: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#21 Jay Wetherington: OF; 5' 9"; Junior; L/L

#7 Evan Cuervo: OF; 6' 4"; Freshman; L/R

#8 Jay Allred: OF; 6' 2"; Freshman; L/R

#13 Jake Randolph: C; 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R

Players Mentioned

#5 Joel Dragoo
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R
: INF

#2 Brody Fahr
: 5' 11"; Junior; L/R
: INF

#25 Duncan Howard
: 6' 3"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

#34 Colbey Klepper
: 6' 4"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#32 Dalton Reeves
: 6' 5"; Junior; L/R
: C

#16 Tanner Smith
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#21 Jay Wetherington
: 5' 9"; Junior; L/L
: OF

#7 Evan Cuervo
: 6' 4"; Freshman; L/R
: OF

#8 Jay Allred
: 6' 2"; Freshman; L/R
: OF

#13 Jake Randolph
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R
: C