A Brett Kerry update, and how South Carolina relief pitching fueled win over Virginia
South Carolina pitcher Brett Kerry will be just fine, USC head coach Mark Kingston said.
After being pulled prematurely from his start against third-seeded Virginia in Friday’s NCAA regional win over the Cavaliers, Kingston said Kerry was dealing with a stiff neck that wouldn’t allow him to fully rotate.
Kingston further assured reporters that Kerry’s issue was not arm-related and the hope is that he could return to pitch as soon as Sunday assuming all the kinks are worked out.
“It’s not anything other than he woke up this week, slept on it wrong and he just cannot turn his neck fully,” Kingston explained. “We knew early in the game, his stuff was not what it normally was.”
South Carolina will start junior Thomas Farr agains Old Dominion on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Julian Bosnic, Daniel Lloyd shine in relief of Brett Kerry
With Kerry limited to just 50 pitches Friday afternoon, relievers Julian Bosnic and Daniel Lloyd were asked to extend longer than their usual outings.
Bosnic was the first arm out of the pen, ringing up a pair of Cavaliers en route to a 3.2-inning, three-hit outing. His lone run allowed came when Virginia leadoff man Zack Gelof ripped a homer to right field to extend the Cavalier lead to two runs.
“I’ve always had the mindset just go go as long as I can,” Bosnic said. “If they asked me to go one inning, I’ll go in there for one. If they asked me for three or four or five, I can do both. The mentality is just last as long as you can.”
Lloyd followed suit, setting down nine of the 10 batters he faced, striking out four. After fanning Gelof on a 3-2 pitch to end the game, Lloyd let out a roar and an excited fist pump as the Gamecocks swarmed him on the bump.
“Generally, once he gets past the two innings is when we start to kind of get a feel for, is it time to hand the ball off?” Kingston said of Lloyd. “But he was just pitching so well, had such good command and we just we felt like Danny was was the guy to close out that game.”
Kingston sounds off on Founders Park atmosphere
Coaching his first regional in Columbia with the Gamecocks, Kingston spent ample time during his postgame news conference lauding the over 5,000 fans in attendance Friday.
“If you’re a sports fan, if you’re a Gamecocks fan, if you’re if you love baseball, days and weekends like what we’re doing right now is really as good as it gets,” he said.
As fans lined up in the parking lots outside Founders Park hours before first pitch, lengthy “Go Gamecocks!” chants erupted during South Carolina’s come-from-behind win over Virginia.
For a team that’s fed off its own energy all season, Friday was a chance at enjoying the raucous environments playing at USC has entailed in recent years.
Hard-slugging junior Wes Clarke twice sent the crowd into a frenzy — he had a first-inning homer and ripped ground-rule double in the sixth inning. Former Swansea High School standout Josiah Sightler and catcher Colin Burgess then sent the ballpark into pandemonium with a game-tying double and go-ahead single, respectively.
“I guess you could say that if you can’t put away teams early, like that, then the crowd will be in the game,” Virginia’s Zack Gelof said. “But it really doesn’t matter. We just got to be better from a pitching staff standpoint and then hitters, when we had the lead, we gotta extend leads. At the end of the day didn’t really do enough.
How to watch South Carolina Gamecocks baseball
Who: No. 2 South Carolina vs. No. 1 Old Dominion
When: 7 p.m. Saturday on channel TBA
Where: Founders Park — Columbia, SC
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 4:59 PM.
