SoCon Title Up For Grabs at Western Thursday, Friday

Catching the Action

The games will take place at Ronnie G. Childress Field at Hennon Stadium on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. Live video, live audio and live stats will be available for all three games. Twitter updates will be available from @DavidsonWildcat.

LEADING OFF

	Davidson (28-14, 17-5 SoCon)	Western Carolina (34-16, 17-6 SoCon)
Thursday (5 p.m.)	RHP Danny Mooney (5-3, 2.29)	RHP Jordan Smith (8-4, 3.09)
Friday (2 p.m.)	RHP Nick Neitzel (7-0, 3.29)	RHP Jeremy Null (5-3, 2.73)
Friday (TBD)	TBA	LHP Bryan Sammons (7-2, 4.50)

- Picked to finish last in the Southern Conference by the league's coaches and ninth out of 10 teams by the media, Davidson is presently in first place in the league at 17-5. Western Carolina, which was picked to win the league by both the coaches and the media, trails Davidson at 17-6. The winner of the three-game series will win the SoCon regular season title. It would be Davidson's second all-time and first since 1985.

- Davidson is playing its first game in eight days after idling for the weekend for exams.

- The 'Cats need one win to set a program record for single-season wins (29) and clinch its highest single-season SoCon winning percentage. Presently at .773, Davidson is trying to best its 1975 record of .714.

- Dating back to last season, Davidson is enjoying its most successful stretch of Southern Conference play ever, as the Wildcats have claimed a program-record 10 consecutive SoCon series (at The Citadel, 5/3-4/13; at Samford, 5/16-17/13; The Citadel, 3/14-16/14; Wofford, 3/21-23/14; Georgia Southern, 3/28-30/14; at Furman, 4/4-6/14; Samford, 4/11-12/14; UNCG, 4/17/14; at App State, 4/25-27/14; at Elon, 5/2-4/14), going 21-7 in those 28 SoCon games.

- Three Wildcats rank in the Top 10 in batting in the SoCon, as LF Lee Miller (.357), CF Forrest Brandt (.356) and DH Ryan Lowe (.354)and rank third (tie), sixth and eighth, respectively. Brandt is second in slugging percentage at .650, and he's followed by RF Nathan Becker at .596 in third. Brandt (12) and Becker (11) rank tied for second and tied for fourth, respectively in home runs. Brandt's team-best 47 RBIs rank sixth.

- Davidson ranks second in the nation in home runs per game, averaging 1.12 per game.

- RHP Danny Mooney leads SoCon starters with a 2.29 ERA and all with a .196 opposing batting average.

THE SERIES

VS: WESTERN CAROLINA: Davidson trails in the all-time series, 26-88, which dates back to 1977. Western has claimed the last 13 series, although the Wildcats have taken 1-of-3 from the Catamounts in each of the past three seasons. Davidson last won a three-game series in 2000, but has never accomplished the feat in Cullowhee.

SCOUTING WCU

Western Carolina and Davidson have been trading the Southern Conference lead throughout the season. The Catamounts dropped their first series of the year just last weekend at Georgia Southern, but all three games were decided by one run. WCU won the opener in the ninth, 5-4, but Georgia Southern won the final two. Western ranks fourth in the SoCon in batting at .288, trailing second-place Davidson (.306), but leads the league in on-base percentage (.387) by .004 over Davidson (.383). The Catamounts and Wildcats are near equals on the mound, as WCU's ERA of 4.34 ranks third behind second-place Davidson (4.31), and their opposing batting averages are virtually identical at .261. Jacob Hoyle (.320) and Adam Martin (.312) power the offense. Hoyle has a league-best 14 HRs and 49 RBIs, while Martin has 12 homers and a league-best 60 RBIs. Jeremy Null (2.73) and Jordan Smith (3.09) rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the league in ERA.

NOTES
YEAR-OVER-YEAR-IMPROVEMENT: The Wildcats have improved significantly offensively, batting .306 as a team to rank second in the SoCon and rank 12th in the nation after batting just .260 last season. Last season's team finished with no batters batting above .295, but this year's has seven batters batting .301 or higher. Every single starter has improved his batting average and on-base percentage this season from last season.

BETTER ON THE MOUND: Davidson has pitched well too, posting an ERA of 4.31 as a team. Its ERA in 2013 was 5.93.

MILESTONE SEASON: Davidson reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2005, doing so in a program-best 28 games. It was also the quickest team to reach 28 wins.

MILESTONE SOCON SEASON: Not only are Davidson's 17 SoCon wins a program record, but the Wildcats had not had a winning season in the SoCon since 1993.

HISTORIC WINNING PERCENTAGE: At 28-14, Davidson boasts a .667 winning percentage. Davidson's best winning percentage in a season in which it played 42 or more games is .595 (1987). If the 'Cats maintain it, it would be their best effort since winning .688 of games (11-5) in 1955.

MIDDLE-AGED: The 2014 Wildcats are experienced, but not old. Davidson should return seven of nine positon players and two weekend starters in 2015.

POWER SURGE: After hitting just 15 home runs in 2012 and 39 in 2013, Davidson has already slugged 47 this season - its most since hitting 66 in 2009. The total ranks third in the SoCon and ninth in the nation, while with 1.12 homers per game, Davidson leads the SoCon and ranks second in the nation. Every starter has at least two home runs.

BRANDT BLASTS: Forrest Brandt has been one of Davidson's leading hitters throughout his career as a four-year starter, but he hit just one homer as a freshman, two as a sophomore and one as a junior for a total of four entering his senior season. He has 12 so far this year, and had his first multi-home run game at App State (4/27), hitting two home runs in the first two innings, giving him three in two games. He had another two-homer game against UNC Asheville (5/7).

NEITZ TALE: RHP Nick Neitzel is undefeated entering the series, and his seven wins this season are the most by a Davidson pitcher since Brian Akin went 8-3 in 2004.

BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST: Nathan Becker has been named to the Gregg Olson Award Watch List for college baseball's "Breakout Player of the Year." The Gregg Olson Award, presented by Toolshed Sports, is named after former Auburn Tiger star pitcher Gregg Olson, who became one of the top collegiate players in the nation after an initial season filled with only mixed success. Becker has emerged as one of the top home run hitters in the nation this season, presently ranking fourth nationally in home runs per game with 11 in just 35 games (0.31). Becker started all 49 games last season and batted .292, but he homered just once and drove in 14 RBIs. However, Becker quickly eclipsed his power numbers in his junior season this year. After opening the month of March with home runs in back-to-back games against Miami (Ohio), including a grand slam, Becker homered in four consecutive games just over a week later. In addition to Becker's 11 homers, he enters the series batting .301 with 34 RBIs, and a .596 slugging percentage that ranks third in the Southern Conference.

LOST SEVEN: Davidson has lost six games to weather this season and one to an opponent canceling. Its entire opening series against Buffalo was snowed out, while three out of four games 4/15-19 were rained out, including two SoCon games against UNCG. NC Central canceled its trip to Wilson Field (5/8) in order to make up a pair of conference games.

FIVE YEARS SINCE FIVE HOMERS: Forrest Brandt (2), Lee Miller (2) and David Daniels (1) combined for five home runs against UNC Ashelville (5/7). It was the first time Davidson had hit as many as five home runs in a game since Feb. 24, 2009 against NC Central. The team record for home runs in a game is six. The 'Cats accomplished the feat twice in a span of four days, first setting the standard at UNC Asheville on Apr. 21. 1993, and then doing the same against Marshall on Apr. 25.

INNING HOME RUN RECORD EQUALED: Brandt, Miller and Daniels all homered in the seventh inning of the UNC Asheville game (5/7), tying the Davidson record of three home runs in an inning that has been matched many times. It had been nearly eight years though since the last three-homer inning. Rob Wilson, Blake Osborn and Dan Obermeier had been the last to do it, hitting back-to-back-to-back homers vs. Gardner-Webb in the sixth, on May 2, 2006.

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