Baseball Looks For Season Sweep of Catamounts on Tuesday Night

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team closes out its seven-game road swing on Tuesday with a trip to Western Carolina to battle the Catamounts at 5 p.m… PC looks for the season sweep of WCU after earning a 3-0 victory in Clinton back on Feb. 22.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Presbyterian (18-30) at Western Carolina (18-28)
WHERE: Childress Field at Hennon Stadium (Cullowhee, N.C.)
WHEN: 5 p.m. (Tues.)
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Series Tied at 4

FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Sidearm Stats
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB

About the Blue Hose
• The Blue Hose are set to close out their seven-game road swing on Tuesday with a roadtrip up the mountain to Western Carolina. PC looks to get back in the win column after #11 Miami swept the Blue Hose in Coral Gables. WCU fell in two-of-three on the road this weekend in conference play against Samford.

Scouting the Catamounts
• Western Carolina comes into Tuesday's action with an 18-28 record including a 6-11 SoCon mark following suffering a pair of defeats to Samford in conference play last weekend.
• Pascanel Ferreras leads WCU with a .311 average including 11 doubles and 10 homers and tied for the team-high with 44 RBIs. Brandon Butterworth sits at .304 with nine doubles, six triples and three homers. Cole Jones is at .302 with 10 doubles. Nate Stocum leads the Catamounts with 12 homers and has tallied 41 RBIs.
• Ryan White is 4-0 over 27 innings and 18 outings to pace the team in ERA at 3.33. Nick Torres has earned three wins and has a 3.44 earned run average.

Head to Head vs Western Carolina
• PC evened the head-to-head series with WCU behind a 3-0 victory on Feb. 22 in Clinton. The Blue Hose and Catamounts have split the prior two season series with both teams winning on the road in 2017 and 2022.
• In February's action, Joel Dragoo connected on a solo homer and Brody Fahr added two RBIs in the win.
• On the mound, Mason McDaniel made his first college start earning the win allowing two hits with eight strikeouts. Kyle Mueller, Luke Gibson and Tanner Smith combined to toss three shutout innings allowing one hit and three strikeouts.

Blue Hose Close Season as Road Warriors
• With the Blue Hose on the home stretch of the 2023 season, PC will have to do a majority of the work on the road as the Blue Hose are set to play 11 of their final 14 games away from Clinton continuing in Cullowhee on Tuesday.
• After the trip to Coral Gables, PC travels to Cullowhee for a midweek matchup before returning home for senior weekend against Longwood. The final regular season week features a road matchup at Alabama State before a trip to Radford to battle the Highlanders.

Smith Named to NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List
• Presbyterian College baseball senior pitcher Tanner Smith was one of 57 pitchers named to the 2023 NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List as announced by the association.
• The award is given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball with this being the 18th year of the award. In total 25 conferences have representation with 10 of those leagues having two representatives.
• Smith is currently 1-3 on the season with a 2.90 ERA along with an impressive 1.1 WHIP. He has allowed 10 earned runs in 31 innings of work and has totaled 42 strikeouts.
• He leads the Big South with six saves and has not allowed an earned run in 14 of his 21 outings which includes a stretch of 10.2 innings he didn't allow an earned run over six appearances. Smith earned a pair of relief pitcher honors from the league in back-to-back weeks on March 20 and 27.

Blue Hose in the Ranks
• Brody Fahr is tied for third in the league with three triples on the season. He's also tied for sixth in the conference in hits with 60 on the year. He's also sixth in the Big South with a .347 batting average this season.
• Tanner Smith is atop the league in saves with six.
• Charlie McDaniel is second in the Big South with a 4.08 strikeout-to-walk ratio. McDaniel is tops in the conference with 1.81 walks allowed per nine innings. He sits among the top 10 nationally in games started with a team-high 13 starts this season.
• Colbey Klepper and Luke Gibson are tied for third in the league in appearances with 23 on the season. Smith is one outing behind with 22 appearances sitting in a tie for seventh in the conference.
• Freshman Kyle Mueller is tied for third in league play with four victories.
• As a team, PC is tied atop the conference with nine saves led by Smith with six saves.

Deal Opening 2023 Season in Mississippi
• Former Blue Hose pitcher Hayden Deal has began his 2023 season tossing 11.1 innings over nine outings allowing six earned runs with 13 strikeouts for the Mississippi Braves, the AA Affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
•As he begins his sixth year in pro baseball in 2023, Deal is 24-18 with a 3.32 ERA as over 387.1 innings pitched he has racked up 346 strikeouts. He also added five saves in his minor league career.

Fenderson Named Big South Freshman of the Week
• Presbyterian College baseball freshman Trey Fenderson (Spanish Fort, Ala.) has been named the Big South Freshman of the Week for games played April 17-23, as announced by the league office on Monday.
• Fenderson finished the week with a .313 average (5-of-16) with four runs scored along with a double and a pair of homers in a 2-2 week for the Blue Hose. The PC third baseman also tallied five runs knocked in and drew a pair of walks in the four-game week for Presbyterian.
• He got off to a quick start in the midweek battle with ETSU connecting on his second homer of the season in a six-run first that helped carried PC past the Bucs 16-3 on Wednesday night.In the series opener against Gardner-Webb he tallied another base knock before opening Saturday's tilt with a solo homer as part of a seven-run first against the Runnin' Bulldogs. He also added an RBI single that capped the 13-3 victory over Gardner-Webb. In the series finale, Fenderson added an RBI single along with drawing a bases-loaded walk that gave him his second multiple RBI contest in as many days.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#31 Charlie McDaniel: LHP; 6' 3"; Junior; L/L

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

#15 Trey Fenderson: MIF; 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R

#28 Kyle Mueller: RHP; 6' 4"; Freshman; R/R

#29 Luke Gibson: LHP; 6' 0"; Junior; L/L

#40 Mason McDaniel: LHP; 6' 4"; Freshman; L/L

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#31 Charlie McDaniel
: 6' 3"; Junior; L/L
: LHP

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

#15 Trey Fenderson
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R
: MIF

#28 Kyle Mueller
: 6' 4"; Freshman; R/R
: RHP

#29 Luke Gibson
: 6' 0"; Junior; L/L
: LHP

#40 Mason McDaniel
: 6' 4"; Freshman; L/L
: LHP