2021 WCU Baseball

Western Carolina baseball opened organized preseason team practice on Friday, Jan. 29 at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium. The Catamounts had their typical individual instruction sessions in the days before Friday's opening of spring camp and team practice. WCU is practicing six days a week within the 20-hour window for instructional work.

"I feel that our guys came back to campus in-shape and ready to go. They obviously put the work in over the nearly 58-day break from the end of our limited fall practice through the holiday break," said head coach Bobby Moranda, who enters his 14th season at the helm in Cullowhee. "Our team remains very hungry to do something significant and feel that they have a lot to prove entering the 2021 season."

Moranda added, "We were able to conduct over 30 innings of intrasquad scrimmage over the three days this past weekend. For the last weekend of January, that's pretty good. It just really goes to show the dedication and hard work our players put in to get ready for the start of the season."

Western Carolina returns 21 lettermen from the 2020 squad with two seniors – catcher Luke Robinson and RHP Jack Snyder – returning for an extra season per the NCAA allocations stemming from the pandemic. Among the 21 returners are seven position players with starting experience from last spring including 2019 SoCon Player of the Year in Justice Bigbie and three starting pitchers, highlighted by last year's Friday starter, local product sophomore RHP Zebby Matthews.

The 2021 Preseason All-Southern Conference team and preseason polls are anticipated to be announced on Thursday, Feb. 11 ahead of the start of the season on Feb. 19.