Powered by Ethan Petry’s big night, South Carolina baseball takes down No. 1 LSU
There was no look of anxiety or intimidation — no fear — when South Carolina players talked about welcoming the No. 1 team in the country to Founders Park this weekend. LSU has been the darling of the college baseball world in 2023, and ace Paul Skenes has been one of the game’s most-discussed pitchers.
Yet the Gamecocks talked about treating the mighty Tigers like any other team. Catcher Cole Messina said they’d do their homework on Skenes and then, “We’re gonna go get him.”
He was right.
No. 6 USC (28-3, 9-1 SEC) backed up its well-earned confidence Thursday. On a night when the nation’s top team was in town and a pitcher touching 100 mph was on the mound, it was the Gamecocks who came away looking like the better team, defeating the Tigers 13-5.
Freshman Ethan Petry was the obvious star for the Gamecocks — as he has been through much of the season. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound slugger set the tone from the very beginning of the game. Stepping in against Skenes with a man on base in the first, Petry turned on a 99-mph fastball and drilled it over the left-field fence, electrifying a sold-out Founders Park crowd for a two-run bomb.
Before that swing, the junior Skenes hadn’t allowed a home run in the 2023 season. In fact, in his seven previous starts (44.1 innings), Skenes had only allowed four runs combined, striking out an eye-popping 83 batters.
“It felt good. I respect the elite, and he’s the elite of elite,” Petry said. “So I just kind of did my jog around the bases, no trash talk.”
Petry and the Gamecocks weren’t done. Starting shortstop Braylen Wimmer would add a solo shot against Skenes in the bottom of the third before lightning suspended the game for an hour and six minutes in the top of the fourth. The length of the delay forced both Skenes and USC starter Will Sanders out of the game. From there, USC feasted on LSU’s bullpen.
In the fifth inning, LSU reliever Micah Bucnam made the mistake of loading the bases for Petry, who promptly powered the ball over the left-field wall for a grand slam and his second home run of the game. With a sacrifice fly in the sixth and bases-loaded hit by pitch in the seventh, Petry finished with eight RBIs — the most by a Gamecock in a single game since 2011.
Already the team’s leading hitter with a batting average approaching .450, Petry put himself into a tie with Gavin Casas for the team lead with 15 home runs, adding to a freshman-season resume that has already garnered him a bevy of weekly SEC accolades.
“It was surreal,” Petry said. “I heard the fans behind my back the whole game, and I was loving it. I feed off the energy, and it was so much fun.”
USC has steadily climbed the Top 25 rankings after winning three straight SEC series. With a Game 1 win over the Tigers (25-5, 6-4), USC could be in position to win a fourth-straight conference series — if the weather cooperates. USC and LSU are scheduled to play a Friday doubleheader starting at noon, though there’s rain in the forecast the next two days.
Regardless of how many games USC is able to play this weekend, the Gamecocks already made a statement with the way they took care of Skenes and the Tigers in Game 1.
“We’ve just been showing the country that we’re a really good baseball team in all areas,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “We can pitch, we can hit, we have power, we have speed. We play good defense on most days. You don’t put too much emphasis on any one day, but I think that the total picture of what we’re doing right now, it’s just hard to ignore.”
Next four USC baseball games
Friday: DH vs. No. 1 LSU, Noon with one-hour break (SEC Network Extra)
Tuesday: vs. USC Upstate, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Extra)
April 14: at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Extra)
This story was originally published April 6, 2023 at 11:10 PM.
