Baseball: Cats open the season with a win

The Catamounts' Jeremy Null allowed just two runs in seven innings, and had a career-high 13 strike-outs to lead the Cats to an opening season win over the Washington State Cougars.  The Cats' 8-5 win came at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.

Western Carolina cranked out five runs in the fifth inning to take a 6-2 lead over the visiting Cougars, however, in top of the eighth inning, with two outs and runners on first and second, the Cougar's designated hitter Yale Rosen hit a 3-run home run to bring the Cougars within two runs.

However, in the bottom half of the eighth inning, the Cats' Cody Jones scored on an error by Cougar left fielder Ben Roberts.

The Cats and Cougars returns to Hennon Stadium for the second game of the three-game series as WCU junior RHP Jordan Smith faces off against Cougar sophomore LHP Joe Pistorese.  Saturday's game is slated for a 2 p.m. start time.