Ethan Petry making good on word to lead after last season's painful end
The feeling probably hadn’t even fully sunk in yet. But just moments after seeing his season come to an end, a teary-eyed Ethan Petry was already looking to what was next.
“I want to be that leader next year alongside Cole (Messina),” Petry said last June after South Carolina lost to Florida in the Super Regionals. “And whoever else wants to step up with us, I’m happy to have them step up with us.”
In the 10 months since that moment down in Gainesville, Petry has continued to rake at the plate. He’s already up to 13 homers through 33 games this year. But more so than the numbers, he feels like he’s made good on his word to be a leader.
“I’m not a vet yet, but I feel like I’ve had enough experience playing,” Petry said. “I’ve played almost 100 games now. And I feel like everyone that is younger than me is looking up to me.”
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It hasn’t been the best season for the Gamecocks so far. There have already been plenty of ups and downs along the way. And a lot of it has to do with a handful of new faces on the team.
But still, South Carolina is in a good position to try and make a run to Omaha. And what’s helped is having guys like Petry, who have been through a lot of college baseball, to weather any storm.
“They understand, they trust my word. I mean, trust is everything, and they trust me and Cole to handle the offense,” Petry said. “And they trust Eli and Becker to handle the pitching. They trust their word and that’s all we need in the locker room.”
As for Mark Kingston’s evaluation of the leadership in the locker room, he fully believes in what Petry and the others are doing.
“I think they’ve done a good job,” Kingston said. “On the offensive side, you look at those two and then (Talmadge) LeCroy. When we’re going well, those guys are doing a really nice job of leading by example, but also being willing to step up and say what needs to be said.”
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Being a leader of men himself, Kingston knows just how invested Petry is in making sure the team is successful this year. And he believes that will help tremendously in leading the way.
“There’s always room for improvement. Leaders at 40 are better than when they were 30 and 20, etcetera,” Kingston said. “So I think one of my challenges is to continue to really help those guys come along and learn what really good leadership is.”
Now this weekend, everything will come full circle. Petry will return to the place where he vowed to lead his team back to this spot and much more. South Carolina travels to Florida for a three-game series starting Friday night.
