UNC Asheville Plays at WCU on Wednesday/Hosts Liberty This Weekend

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville baseball team plays at mountain rival Western Carolina Wednesday night at 5 p.m. before returning home to Greenwood Field this weekend to take on Big South leader Liberty in a three-game BSC series starting Friday afternoon.

The Bulldogs (17-21, 6-9 BSC) went 2-2 last week with a 7-3 home victory over ETSU and a 3-2 triumph over league foe Campbell on Saturday. Asheville fell to the Camels 4-3 on Friday and 13-6 in Saturday's second game.

Tom Smith's club will be looking for its fourth straight victory over Western Carolina on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs swept last year's season two-game series and then edged the Cats, 3-1 on a pinch-hit three-run homer from Patrick Koontz on March 21^st at McCormick in 12 innings. WCU is having an outstanding season and is 25-11 heading into this week's action.

Liberty is 30-10 on the season and stands 9-3 in BSC play.

"We've got a tough week coming up," stated Smith. "Our guys need to be at their best this week to have a shot at winning some games. We got two good wins last week and came close to getting three victories."

Freshmen Hunter Bryant and Aaron Wright continue to lead the Bulldogs in hitting respectively. Bryant tops the club with a .333 average, while Wright has a .325 mark. Koontz is Asheville's leading home run hitter with five, while Billy Creighton is next with four and tops the club in RBI at 24.

On the mound, Ethan Steible has become the Bulldogs closer and posted four saves with a 1.02 ERA.

BULLDOG NOTES

Asheville is 10-6 at home this season with a 4-2 mark in BSC play.

The Bulldogs next win will be the most since the 2008 season when Asheville won 24 games. The Dogs won only 15 games last year, 17 in 2010 and just nine in 2009.

Asheville is 4-5 in one-run games and 2-2 in two-run contests.

The Bulldogs are 8-1 in games they homer in.

Asheville is 2-2 in extra innings this season.

The Bulldogs had 16 home runs as a team last season and have 14 so far this year with 17 games left to go.