How South Carolina baseball earned convincing win over in-state foe Winthrop

Eddie Copper had a college baseball debut that he would just as soon to forget than rehash any time soon. His second outing will likely erase that memory, at least temporarily.

Copper continued the early season success of South Carolina’s starting pitchers with four solid innings Tuesday at Founders Park to lead the No. 21 Gamecocks to a 12-2, seven-inning victory over Winthrop in the first midweek game of the season.

Copper was the first arm out of the bullpen in Friday’s season opener. He came on in relief of Eli Jones to open the seventh inning and South Carolina holding a 5-1 lead over Miami (Ohio). Five pitches later, the bases were loaded with no outs.

The freshman right-hander from Ivyland, Pennsylvania allowed a single and hit the next two batters Friday in his brief appearance.

“Friday, I was super nervous going out to the mound,” Copper admitted. “I let my emotions get the best of me. After the game, Eli Jones gave me a hug and a bunch of guys texted me after the game and said freshman jitters happen to everyone. That kind of gave me my confidence back.”

Any disappointment was washed away when coach Mark Kingston gave him the ball to start Tuesday against the Eagles. Copper was decent in the fall and then arguably one the better arms in the preseason. That earned the trust of Kingston and his staff.

Copper rewarded that trust with four innings of one-hit ball Tuesday. He did walk three with two strikeouts, but more importantly he threw 43 strikes on 70 pitches. He pitched out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the second inning by getting a fly-ball to leftfield. He retired seven of the final eight batters he faced.

His fastball was sitting between 91 and 93 mph, and his slider was working well.

“It was great to see him bounce back,” Kingston said. “The reason we wanted to throw him back out there is, we knew he was capable of this. He was nervous in his first outing this weekend, and it didn’t go so well. We wanted to show confidence in him.”

Ty Good, a senior transfer from College of Charleston, earned the win with 1.2 innings of relief. He came in with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning to replace Austin Williamson, and he got a fly-ball to Ethan Petry in right field that turned into a double play.

The Gamecocks run-ruled Miami 14-0 on Sunday in that series’ final game. On Tuesday, South Carolina (4-0) continued to feature an opportunistic offense.

They jumped on top in the second inning on the efforts of an RBI double from Tyler Causey and a sac bunt from Will Tippett that scored Causey.

Talmadge LeCroy — who went 3-for-3 with a single, double and home run — and Causey led the way offensively. Causey added a two-run home run and four RBIs on the day. Tippett, who had three RBIs without a hit, ended the game on a bases-loaded walk.

Causey didn’t play baseball in 2023 but played for North Carolina the previous four seasons. He’s been one of the team’s success stories to start the season.

“It was definitely tough, that year not playing baseball, thinking you might be done forever,” he said. “Getting the opportunity here was a blessing. I’m happy to get out there and play.”

South Carolina baseball schedule this week

• Wednesday vs. Queens, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
  
  
• Friday vs. Belmont, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
• Saturday vs. Belmont, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
• Sunday vs. Belmont, 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

This story was originally published February 20, 2024 at 7:02 PM.