USC freshman Brett Kerry is ‘a strike throwing machine’ who thrives in big moments
Clemson and South Carolina were in the middle of a back-and-forth affair Friday night in Game 1 of the rivalry series when the Gamecocks turned to freshman righty Brett Kerry while clinging to a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning.
Most of the fans in attendance at Clemson’s Doug Kingsmore Stadium, and even several USC fans keeping track at home, had little to no knowledge of Kerry and his capabilities. But Tigers coach Monte Lee was well aware that Clemson had its hands full.
“We watched him on video. We studied him as hard as we could, and he did exactly what we thought he was going to do,” Lee said. “We recruited him out of high school, too, and he’s a strike throwing machine. That’s what he is. He’s just a guy that he commands his fastball and his breaking ball really good.”
Kerry was dominant on the mound over the final 3 1/3 innings of the game as he held Clemson scoreless while helping the Gamecocks to a 5-4 victory.
South Carolina went on to win the series against the Tigers 2-1, earning their first win in the rivalry series since 2014.
Clemson had nine hits and four runs the first 5 2/3 innings of Friday night’s game. They had two hits and no runs while striking out seven times the final 3 1/3 innings against Kerry. He struck out the side in the eighth and was greeted to a fired up USC dugout as he exited the field.
“We were down 5-2. Scored a single run in the third and the fourth to make it 5-4, and then Brett Kerry came into the ballgame,” Lee said. “He deserves a lot of credit… He was awfully good. He did a good job of just shutting us down.”
Kerry was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for his effort against the Tigers, and 11 games into the season he is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA. The North Carolina native has 18 strikeouts and zero walks in 9 1/3 innings pitched.
“He’s a very focused and determined kid now. He’s gotten his game up to another level from what we saw in the fall, and it needed to be. Now he’s a very important piece of this puzzle,” USC coach Mark Kingston said.
Kingston and Carolina pitching coach Skylar Meade challenged Kerry to get stronger during the winter after having an up-and-down fall. Kerry responded and has been arguably the best pitcher on the team through the first few weekends of 2019.
“It was like a mental change. I knew that I could be this type of pitcher. It was more mental part of the game,” Kerry said. “Obviously, of course I’m not going to think I’m going to (be this dominant). But you’ve got to have that mindset that this is what I want to be able to do one day.”
TJ Hopkins, who was named the SEC Player of the Week after hitting three home runs and driving in nine runs over the weekend against Clemson, loves what he sees from Kerry so far this year.
“Brett’s just the type of guy, he’s kind of quiet. He works hard and coach Meade and all the coaches told him go over Christmas break and get a little bit stronger and that’s exactly what he did,” Hopkins said. “He went home... he got a little bit stronger, his velocity went up, his secondary pitches got better. He’s a bulldog on the mound. It doesn’t surprise me.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2019 at 12:44 PM.
