Martin named to Johnny Bench Watch List

Western Carolina’s Adam Martin is one of 48 catchers nationally named to the 2013 Johnny Bench Award presented by BaseballSavings.com by The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission.

The award is presented to the top catcher at the NCAA Division I ranks.  The watch list will be updated until May 6 when it will be narrowed down to semifinalists, which will be announced on May 16.

Martin started all six games in which he has seen action this year,and he’s committed just one error with 48 putouts and six assists.

Last season, the Marietta, Ga., native hit .281 with 18 extra-base hits, including nine doubles, two triples and seven home runs. He drove in 33 runs in 2012.


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Sumler named to All-Tournament team

Redshirt junior guard Trey Sumler was named to the 2013 Southern Conference All-Tournament team following the completion of the tournament in Asheville, NC.

It is the second-straight season that Sumler has been named to first team all tournament squad, and he is the lone member of the first team not to play in the championship game.

Sumler averaged 26 points per game in the tournament action, scoring 27 points in the first round and 25 in the quarterfinals.  He played 77 of a possible 80 minutes, shooting 20-of-36 (55.6%) from the floor including hitting five 3-pointers.


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Baseball: Eastern Kentucky Colonels

Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Conference:  OVC
Location: Hennon Stadium, Cullowhee, NC
Date: Wednesday, March 13  
Time: 5 pm
Radio:  Catamount Sports Network
Live Stats:  GameTracker




Eastern lost two of its top three pitchers and five position starters to graduation from a team that captured a conference-best 16th regular season championship. The Colonels went 31-23 overall in 2012 and tied Austin Peay for first place with a 19-7 Ohio Valley Conference record.

The Colonels (4-7, 1-2 OVC) travel to Cullowhee for a midweek game on Wednesday at Hennon Stadium.  Eastern Kentucky is coming off a weekend series with Tennessee Tech, with a 1-2 record in that series.

The Colonels are 2-5 on the road, with wins over Winthrop and Charleston Southern.


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Why did the Cats lose in Asheville?

Was it because they were playing a better team? No, the Cougars are a good team, but not a better team than the current Catamount squad.

So then, what beat the Cats in Asheville?

They beat themselves by sending the Cougars to the foul line an excessive amount of times.

As in most of the WCU basketball losses this season, excessive fouls by the Catamounts were their downfall. In last night's game in Asheville, the Cougars put 29 points on the board from the foul line.  They had a total of 35 attempts at the charity stripe, courtesy of WCU fouls.

How many free throws did the Cats make you ask? That would be 9.  That's 9 out of their 12 attempts.

That's a 20 point advantage to the Cougars, we lost the game by only 8 points.

If the Cats could have controlled their fouling this season, this team would be challenging Davidson for the championship on Monday night, not back at home licking their wounds, and waiting for next season. I don't blame the refs. If the excessive fouling had only occurred in this game, I'd say we had trio of bad refs. But, this level of excessive fouling has occurred game after game this season.

I certainly don't blame the Cougars, all they did was shoot 83% at the free throw line and take advantage of the gifts the Catamounts continued to hand them. Normally, the Cougars are just an average team at the  foul line, shooting 67% (10th in the SoCon). But when you send a team to the line for 35 attempts, you take your chances.

The Cats were called for 24 personal fouls, while the Cougars were whistler for only 13.

I place the blame squarely on the coaches shoulders, it's been tolerated all season long, heck it's been tolerated for several seasons in Cullowhee. The one thing an opposing team can count on from the Catamounts, if they take the ball inside, they've got a much better than even shot of being fouled by the Cats.

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Sunday's WCU Games

SUNDAY, MAR 10
Sport	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Baseball	at Davidson	1:00 PM	Live Stats
Softball	vs Appalachian State	1:00 PM
Women's Golf	at Eagle Landing Invitational (18 holes)	All Day	Live Scoring

Schedule Courtesy WCU Media Relations 

Baseball - Game #2 at Davidson

Davidson Wildcats
Location: Wilson Field, Davidson, NC
Date:  Saturday, March 9, 2 pm
Live Stats:  Davidson Live Stats
Live Video:  Davidson All Access  (fee)

Cats face Charleston in quarterfinals

College of Charleston Cougars
Date: March 9, 2013 • 8:30 p.m. (ET)
Location:  U.S. Cellular Center (7,674) at Asheville, N.C.
Television: ESPN3/WatchESPN.com
Radio: Catamount Sports Network
The Series: CofC Leads the overall series, 18-7
Last Meeting: CofC def. Western Carolina, 67-65, on Feb. 20, 2013 in Cullowhee, N.C. 



The sixth-seeded Western Carolina men's basketball team will face the third-seeded College of Charleston in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Southern Conference Tournament on Saturday, March 9 at 8:30 p.m. (ET) at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, N.C.


The Cougars finished the season with 22-9 overall record, and are hoping to make some noise in this their final Southern Conference Men's Basketball.  The Cats and Cougars only met once this season, which the Cougars won in Cullowhee by two points.

Projected Western starters
#0 Tom Tankelewicz, G, 6-4, 180, RS-Jr. (9.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.1 apg, 26.4 min)
#5 Trey Sumler, G, 6-2, 175, RS-Jr. (17.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.6 apg, 37.7 min)
 #25 James Sinclair, G, 6-3, 180, So. (6.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 29.3 min)
#32 Tawaski King, F, 6-8, 245, Jr. (11.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.0 apg, 31.8 min)
#40 Preston Ross, F, 6-4, 220, Jr. (6.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.8 apg, 17.2 min)

Projected Charleston starters
#22 Anthony Stitt, G, 6-1, 180, So. (10.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.3 apg, 32.7 min)
#4 Andrew Lawrence, G, 6-1, 185, Sr. (13.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.9 apg, 32.1 min) 
#3 Anthony Thomas, F, 6-7, 207, Jr. (8.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.6 apg, 28.7 min)
#53 Willis Hall, F, 6-6, 235, RS-Jr. (7.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 0.7 apg, 24.1 min)
#1 Adjehi Baru, F, 6-9, 225, So. (9.5 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 0.6 apg, 30.7 min)


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Cats win in 13 innings

Tied 4-4 at the end of regulation, and unable to score for 3 more innings, the Cats belted out five runs in the top of the 13th to post the opening day win over the Davidson Wildcats, 9-4.

The Cats were down 4-3 entering the ninth inning, when Austin Neary hit a lead-off home run that send the game into extra innings.

Tyler White can be credited for five of WCU's runs as he scored twice himself and knocked in three RBI, which makes him the team RBI leader  for the season. White went 3-for-7 in the game. Austin Neary went 3-for-6 with 2 RBI for the night.

Game two of the three-game series begins Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Cats win round one - 76-61 over The Citadel

The Catamounts opened the SoCon men's basketball tournament with the same opponent as last year, the Citadel Bulldogs. At the end of the game, the outcome was the same as well, as the Cats ran away with the game by a final 76-61 score over The Citadel.

Trey Sumler led led all scorers with a game-high 27 points and four assists.

"Our guys had a really good mindset with good practices all week long," said WCU head coach Larry Hunter after the game. "Trey Sumler was terrific in both halves; he hit some big shots. Our bench was key tonight, I thought. Tawaski King got in foul trouble and that concerned me because of (The Citadel's) Mike Groselle. But overall, I thought our defense was really good tonight and came up big."

The Catamounts will now take on the No. 3 seed Charleston Cougars in the quarterfinals Saturday at 8:30 p.m..

Baseball: First SoCon series - at Davidson

Davidson Wildcats
Location: Wilson Field, Davidson, NC
Date:  March 8, 9, & 10 (Times: Fri - 6pm, Sat - 2pm, Sun - 1pm)
Head Coach: Dick Cooke (23rd season)
The series: Western leads all-time, 86-25
Live Stats:  Davidson Stats
Live Video:  Davidson All Access  (fee)
Catching the Action:  Admission to Wilson Field is free. Live video and live stats will be available for all three games. Twitter updates will be available from @DavidsonWildcat.

The Davidson Wildcats are coming off a 10-25 season, and are this year 5-5 going into their second home SoCon series of the year.

Davidson went 1-2 against the Appalachian State Mountaineers last weekend, winning the middle game of the three game series.

The Wildcats have 2 wins against George Washington, and 2 against Lafayette, so far, the Wildcats are 5-3 at home.


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Friday's WCU Games

FRIDAY, MAR 8
Sport	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Men's Basketball	vs #11 The Citadel (First Round)	8:30 PM	Listen LIVE          ESPN3
Women's Basketball	vs #8 Seed Georgia Southern	11:30 AM	Listen LIVE       SoConTV

Schedule Courtesy WCU Media Relations 

Simpson named to SoCon All-Freshman teams

Catamount freshman guard Lindsay Simpson has been named to two 2013 Southern Conference All-Freshmen teams.

Simpson was selected to the All-Freshmen team by the coaches, as well as the SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA) All-Freshmen team.

Simpson played in all 29 Catamount games this season and started 13 of the last 14. She leads the Catamounts averaging 7.2 points per game, and scored in double figures eight times this season.

The Franklin, N.C.native had a career-high 25 points on January 13, which was the most points scored by a Catamount women's basketball player since 2009.

Congratulations to Lindsay from the Purple & Gold.


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The SoCon Basketball Tournament

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Cats win big over Georgia, 12-7

Hunter Brister

The Cats roared out to a 5-1 lead in the first inning, and never looked back, taking down the Southeastern Conference foe Georgia by a 12-7 final score, on Tuesday evening in Athens.

Hunter Brister picked up his first win of the season, while Georgia's David Gonalez was saddled with his first loss of the season for the Bulldogs.

The Cats accumulated 15 hits through out the game, with two big 5 run innings to maintain the lead through out the entire game.  Bryant Noteboon had 4 at bats, 3 hits, and 2 RBIs, while in the 7th inning, Tyler White homered with two on base, for 3 RBIs.

The Cats remain on the road  to open Southern Conference play with a weekend series at Davidson. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:00 pm with a 2:00 pm start Saturday and 1:00 pm first pitch on Sunday afternoon.


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Trey Sumler - First Team All-Conference

Western Carolina's redshirt junior guard Trey Sumler is an unanimous first team All-Conference selection choice by the coaches, media, and Scanning the Socon.

The coaches selected a single 10 member team, while the both the media and Scanning the SoCon selected a first, second, and third place team.

So far this season, Sumler averaged 17.9 points per game, which ranks him second in the conference overall in scoring,  Sumler leads the Southern Conference in scoring in league-only games at 19.1 points per game.  He also ranks near the top of the league in steals on defense.

This is Sumler's first conference honors since claiming the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year plaudits in 2010-11 season.

Media
All-Conference First Team
De'Mon Brooks, Davidson
Jake Cohen, Davidson
Lucas Troutman, Elon
Trevis Simpson, UNCG
Trey Sumler, Western Carolina

Coaches 
All-Conference Team
Nathan Healy, Appalachian State
Andrew Lawrence, College of Charleston
Mike Groselle, The Citadel
De'Mon Brooks, Davidson
Jake Cohen, Davidson
Jack Isenbarger, Elon
Lucas Troutman, Elon
Trevis Simpson, UNCG
Raijon Kelly, Samford
Trey Sumler, Western Carolina

Scanning the SoCon
All-Conference First Team
Jake Cohen, Davidson
Lucas Troutman, Elon
Mike Groselle, The Citadel
Trevis Simpson, UNCG
Trey Sumler, Western Carolina 

Congratulations from Purple & Gold to Trey Sumler

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Cats open SoCon tournament vs The Citadel on Friday

The Catamounts open play Friday night in in the first round of the Southern Conference Basketball Tournament, in Asheville's US Cellular Center.

The number six seed Catamounts, meet the number eleven seed Bulldogs of the Citadel in the tournament's opening night-cap game.  This game will be carried by the Catamount Sports Network and can also be viewed on ESPN3, with a scheduled start time of 8:30 pm.

The Bulldogs are 8-21 on the season, and 5-13 in Southern Conference play.  The Catamounts won the only regular season meeting this year with the Bulldogs, by a final score of 72-55, back on January 5th in Charleston, and the Cats are 29-34 overall against the Bulldogs, having won the last three.

The Citadel has seen improved play in the last four regular season games, going 2-2, with only a 3 point loss in their BracketBuster game to Presbyterian College, and a 7 point loss in the season finale to Wofford, 69-62.   The Bulldogs also had an overtime win against Appalachian State during that period.

The Bulldogs are led by potential SoCon Player of the Year candidate and two time Player of the Week Award winner, senior Mike Groselle, who stands at forth place overall in scoring in the SoCon at 15.7 points per game and is ranked 3d in rebounding at 7.7 rebounds per game. Groselle averaged 20.5 points and 8.5 rebounds as the Bulldogs split a pair of games to close the regular season.

The Bulldogs are averaging 64.5, for 8th place in the SoCon,and are giving up and average of 73.1 points per game.


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Tuesday's WCU Games

TUESDAY, MAR 5
Sport	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Baseball	at Georgia	5:00 PM	Listen LIVE

Schedule Courtesy WCU Media Relations 

Scanning the SoCon Postseason Awards

Congratulations to all the winners! 





1st Team All SoCon
Jake Cohen, Davidson
Mike Groselle, The Citadel
Trevis Simpson, UNCG
Trey Sumler, Western Carolina
Lucas Troutman, Elon

See all the award winners here

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Baseball: Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia Bulldogs
Day: Tuesday
Date: Mar. 5, 2013
Location: Athens, Ga.
Time: 5:00 p.m. ET


The Catamounts will travel to Athens, Georgia on Tuesday for a one game series with the Georgia Bulldogs in Foley Field on the campus of UGA.  

The Bulldogs are 5-6 on the season, having opened seasonal play in Statesboro, Georgia against the SoCon's Georgia Southern.   The Bulldogs opened the three game series at GSU with a win, but dropped the next two games to the Eagles by scores of 2-3 and 2-11.

The Bulldogs are coming off a three game sweep of the UAB Blazers, in Athens this past weekend.

Georgia returned five starters and seven pitchers from last season led by senior All-SEC third baseman Curt Powell, senior Kyle Farmer who served as the Team USA shortstop this past summer and outfielder Hunter Cole who earned Freshman All-America honors in 2012.

Wins 
02/15/13 at Georgia Southern Statesboro, Ga. W, 6-5
02/23/13 vs. Belmont Athens, Ga. W, 2-1 (10 inn.)
03/01/13 vs. UAB Athens, Ga. W, 14-2
03/02/13 vs. UAB Athens, Ga. W, 6-2
03/03/13 vs. UAB Athens, Ga. W, 13-2

Loses 
02/16/13 at Georgia Southern Statesboro, Ga. L, 3-2
02/17/13 at Georgia Southern Statesboro, Ga. L, 11-2
02/20/13 vs. Kennesaw State Athens, Ga. L, 2-1
02/23/13 vs. Belmont Athens, Ga. L, 11-10
02/24/13 vs. Belmont Athens, Ga. L, 5-4
02/26/13 at Georgia State Atlanta, Ga. L, 10-7

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Monday's WCU Games

MONDAY, MAR 4
Sport	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Women's Basketball	at Davidson	7:00 PM	LISTEN Live

Schedule Courtesy WCU Media Relations 

Scanning the SoCon - Tournament Edition

The final Scanning the SoCon article has been published.

Today, answers to questions by all the contributors are in the article, tomorrow, the official Scanning the SoCon Awards will be announced.

Read all the answers to the tournament questions here.


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Cats Sweep Hofstra in Double Header

Jacob Hoyle

Getting back on track today, the Catamounts swept a double header from the Hofstra Pride to win the three game series, 2-1. Game one final score was 7-6, while game two's final score was 6-2.

In game one, the Catamounts took a one run victory over the Pride, as Danny Schneider picked up his first win of the season. Tyler Powell picked up the save for the Catamounts.  The Catamounts knocked out 7 hits in the first game, with no errors.

In game two, Jacob Hoyle pitched 5 innings, facing 20 batters and had 3 strike outs.  The Cats belted out 10 hits, scoring 6 runs with no errors. Jacob Hoyle not only picked up his first collegiate pitching victory, but he went 5-for-8 with two home runs, nine RBIs and two doubles.

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Sunday's WCU Games

SUNDAY, MAR 3
Sport	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Baseball	vs Hofstra (Gm 1 of DH)	11:00 AM	Listen LIVE
Baseball	vs Hofstra (Gm 2 of DH)	3:00 PM	Listen LIVE
Softball	vs Drexel	11:00 AM
Softball	at Coastal Carolina	1:00 PM
Women's Tennis	at Chattanooga	12:00 PM	Live Results

Schedule Courtesy WCU Media Relations 

2013 SoCon Men's Championship

Cats win season final over Samford

WCU freshman - Mike Brown

While keeping one streak in place, the Catamounts ended another and completed the regular season on a high note, defeating Samford on a last second shot by freshman Mike Brown, 56-54 in overtime.  The Cats are now 13-18 overall, and 9-9 in the SoCon.

The Cats leading scorer on the season, Trey Sumler, was held out of the the game by Coach Hunter for an undisclosed reason.  In a pregame interview, Hunter said that it was a "coaches' decision" and that Sumler had not broken any team or university rules, nor was it academic.

Without Sumler in the game, the Cats produced a balanced attack, with three Catamounts in double figures.  Tawaski King and Brandon Boggs lead the Cats with 12 points each, and James Sinclair put up 10 points. Preston Ross scored 9 points on the night.  However, without Sumler, the Cats were considerably below their seasonal scoring average of 70+ points.

While only scoring 4 total points, freshman Mike Brown was the hero on the night.  With the score tied 54-54, and three seconds remaining on the clock at the end of overtime, Brown received the inbound pass from under the Catamount basket and put up the final short jumper.  The ball hit the top of the rim, rolled around, then sat just a second at the back of the rim, as the final buzzer went off, the basketball rolled off and fell into the basket, giving the Cats the win with no time left.

The streak the Cats ended?  A three game conference losing streak.

The streak the Cats kept in place?  Samford has never won in the Ramsey Center.

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Women's Basketball Senior Day Send Off

Courtesy WCU Media Relations

Saturday's WCU Games

SATURDAY, MAR 2
Sport	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Men's Basketball	vs Samford	4:30 PM	Listen LIVE
Women's Basketball	vs College of Charleston (DH)	2:00 PM	LISTEN Live
Baseball	vs Hofstra	3:00 PM
Softball	vs Drexel	10:00 AM
Softball	vs Wichita State	2:30 PM

Schedule Courtesy WCU Media Relations

Baseball: Hofstra visits Hennon Stadium

The Catamounts open a three-game nonconference set with Hofstra on Saturday and Sunday at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.  This will be the first meeting between these two teams on the baseball field.

The three-game series opens with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 2, and is scheduled for a Noon start, Sunday's single game is scheduled for Noon as well.

Hofstra, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association was picked to finish second in the league, just behind UNCW.  However, coming into this weekend series in Cullowhee, Hofstra currently ranks in the bottom of the CAA in batting, hitting just .210 as a team, and has a team ERA of 4.61 through 68.1 innings.

Hofstra is 2-6 on the season, dropping four-straight at 14th-ranked Oklahoma in Norman, and splitting a four-game series at Cal State - Bakersfield last weekend.

Once again, there is opportunity here for the Catamounts.


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Friday's WCU Games

FRIDAY, MAR 1
Sport	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Softball	vs Wichita State	10:00 AM
Softball	vs Albany	12:00 PM
SATURDAY, MAR 2

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Basketball: Cats drop third straight conference game

In front of a grand total of 897 in attendance, the Catamounts followed a well established pattern for the season of a digging a deep hole for themselves in the first half due to exceptionally poor shooting, then come roaring back with a flurry of points in the second half.  But in the end, falling short of the the final victory.

Last night, after being down by as much as 19 points in the first half, the Cats pulled as close as 72-74 with 1:32 remaining on a 3-point shot by Brandon Boggs.

That shot was then followed by a 3 pointer by UTC's Ronrico White with 47 seconds remaining on the clock, upping the Mocs lead to 72-77. Chattanooga's Z. Mason then got a turnover from Trey Sumler, and took it to the basket to up the score to 72-79 Mocs. With 33 seconds remaining, Mason's score effectively put the game out of reach for the hard luck Catamounts.

The Cats had to resort to fouling to prevent the Mocs from running out the clock, resulting in a 81-72 final score.

Another well established pattern that stretches back several seasons, is the Catamounts sending the opposing team to the free throw line for an excessive amount of attempts on the charity stripe. In last night's game, the Catamounts sent the Mocs to the free throw line for a total of 39 attempts, allowing Chattanooga to pick up a total of 26 free points, more than enough to bury the foul prone Catamounts.

How are you going to win when you give the other team a 26 point head start?

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