Greenville, S.C. – Third-seeded Samford broke open a tie game in the home half of the third inning by pushing across 11 runs as a part of an offensive middle-inning rally on Wednesday night, handing sixth-seeded Western Carolina a 22-3 loss in seven innings at Fluor Field in the second round of the 2022 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases.
 
Western Carolina (26-30-1) drops into the loser's bracket game scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m. where the Catamounts await the loser of the #4 UNCG vs. #1 Wofford winner's bracket match-up slated for Friday at 9 a.m. Samford (27-27) advances to Friday's 12:30 p.m. winner's bracket game against #2 Mercer.
 
The loss was the fifth straight for WCU against Samford in the conference tournament – and the second among those five that was halted after just seven innings, falling 19-7 in the first of two meetings a year ago in the 2021 tournament before again meeting in the title game.
 
Pascanel Ferreras belted a solo homer in the top of the first inning to give the Catamounts a short-lived advantage only to see the Bulldogs find their first crooked number of the night with a three-spot in the home half of the frame to lead 3-1 after one. WCU rallied right back, though, getting sacrifice flies off the bats of Seth Graves and Zach Ketterman that scored Bryson Parks and Brandon Butterworth to knot the game at three after two complete.
 
However, the Bulldogs erupted for 11 runs on eight hits while capitalizing on a pair of WCU errors in the third inning to bust open the close affair. Samford then tacked on five runs on five hits in the fourth inning and added a three-run homer in the fifth to provide the final tally.
 
Samford out-hit the Catamounts 20-to-5 on the day, recording five extra-base hits including four home runs and a double. WCU, which had advanced into the double-elimination portion of the bracket with a 4-1 win over #7 VMI in the second game of a four-game Wednesday, posted four singles and the Ferreras homer.
 
Ferreras (2-for-2) reached base four times to lead the Catamounts, adding a single and a pair of walks to his first-inning home run. Butterworth (2-for-3) collected two singles to also reach twice with Will Prater singling to account for WCU's fifth hit and reached on a seventh-inning walk to load the bases as the Catamounts stranded seven in the loss.
 
Starter Gavin Mortenson (5-9) was tagged with the loss after surrendering 10 runs – eight of which were earned – on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts. The Catamounts used five relievers with Davis Tyndall, Dylan Wheeler, and Eric Wallington each recording two strikeouts apiece.
 
Samford's Jacob Cravey (5-3) scored the victory in just a four-inning effort of the shortened game, striking out three while limiting WCU to three runs – only one of which was earned – on four hits with a walk. The Bulldogs also used five arms in relief combining to toss three one-hit, shutout innings while only having to contend with four base runners coming on a single and three combined walks.
 
Colton Ledbetter paced five Bulldogs with multi-hit games, finishing 5-for-5 with a double and two home runs, and a SoCon Tournament single-game record nine RBI. Will David also homered in a 4-for-5, five-RBI performance with Maurice Hampton also homering among his two hits.
 
Tournament action originally scheduled for Thursday (May 26) was advanced to Wednesday due to the unfavorable weather forecasts across the South Carolina Upstate. Action resumes at 9 a.m. on Friday at Fluor Field with a second, four-game schedule on tap.
 
SoCon Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
May 25 (Wednesday)
Game 1: #8 The Citadel 3, #5 ETSU 1 
Game 2: #6 Western Carolina 4, #7 VMI, 1
Game 3: #4 UNCG 7, #8 The Citadel 6
Game 4: #3 Samford 22, #6 Western Carolina 3 (7 inn.)
 
May 26 (Thursday)
No games scheduled (due to inclement weather)
 
May 27 (Friday)
Game 5: #4 UNCG vs. #1 Wofford, 9:00 a.m.
Game 6: #3 Samford vs. #2 Mercer, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: #6 Western Carolina vs. Loser Game 5, 4:00 p.m.
Game 8: #8 The Citadel vs. Loser Game 6, 7:30 p.m. 
 
May 28 (Saturday)
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, Noon
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 3:30 p.m. 
Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 9, 7:00 p.m.
 
May 29 (Sunday)
Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 11, Noon
Game 13: Game 12 winner vs. Game 12 loser (if necessary), 40 minutes after Game 12