South Carolina picks up first midweek win behind strong outing from Eddie Copper

The nerves were high. Understandably so. Eddie Copper was getting ready to make his college debut on Opening Day.

Before his day truly started, pitching coach Matt Williams came out to the mound to pull him. Just like that, he was out of the game after allowing all three hitters he faced to reach base.

“Just kind of let my emotions get the best of me,” Copper said. “It just sped up on me really quickly. After the game, Eli Jones gives me a hug. A bunch of guys texted me after the game saying freshman jitters happens to everyone. So that kind of gave me my confidence back.”

Now a few days removed from his debut, Copper made the first start of his career. And he didn’t disappoint. He pitched four strong innings to help South Carolina (4-0) to a 12-2 win over Winthrop on Tuesday.

“We wanted to show confidence and belief in him,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “It was great to see him go four innings, one hit, no earned runs. Really set the tone for us.”

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Right away, Copper’s composure and mindset felt different. After walking the first batter of the game, he settled in and retired the next three batters he faced.

It wouldn’t get much easier in the second for Copper. He’d give up a two-out walk and then Parker Noland committed a throwing error, which should’ve been the final out of the inning. Instead, he was now in a bases loaded jam with two outs. But he’d get a fly out to end the threat.

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While Copper was slowly settling in, the Gamecock offense was able to put some early runs together to support their pitcher. In the second, Tyler Causey crushed a double into the left center field gap, scoring a run. South Carolina added another run in the frame with an RBI sacrifice bunt by Will Tippett.

In the third, Cole Messina scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead. With Causey, the next batter, back up at the plate, he went the other way and hit a two-run shot to left to quickly make it 5-0.

“My approach, for me personally, is batter’s eye all the time,” Causey said. “I’m honestly not one of the guys that likes to think backside a lot. But when I go backside or pull side, most of time, I’m just a little bit early or a little bit late.”

With enough run support to work with, Copper really started to pitch his best over the next two innings. He’d give up one hit and retire the side in order in the fourth, bringing his day to an end after 70 pitches.

“Just being able to go out there tonight, I had a different perspective, trying to take it all in as opposed to letting it speed me up. Felt a lot better out there tonight,” Copper said.

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Austin Williamson came in to relieve Copper to start the fifth. However, he immediately worked himself into a jam. Before he could try to get out of it, he served up a two-run double to Jaylen Hernandez to make it a three-run game.

South Carolina made a call to the bullpen and brought in Ty Good to try and limit the damage to the two runs. With two runners in scoring position, he got a fly out to right. Ethan Petry made a good throw to prevent the runner at third from scoring. But the runner at second was too far off the bag, giving Gavin Casas the chance to make a heads up play. He’d throw to second and gun the runner down for the 9-3-6 double play.

“We needed a guy to come in and put out that fire, minimize the inning that they were having there,” Kingston said about Good. “He got the lazy fly ball to right, and we executed that play defensively exactly how you want to execute it. Petry made the nice play coming in on the ball, he made a low throw that would be cut off man-level high. We redirected the ball to second base because he made a poor read and we had the man standing at second base to make the tag. That’s exactly how we work on it.”

RELATED: South Carolina-Winthrop Box Score

In the fifth, the Gamecocks got a run back thanks to a solo shot off the bat of Talmadge LeCroy, his first of the season. They’d add two more runs in the frame via sacrifice fly and a fielding error with the bases loaded.

Good went on to pitch 1.2 solid innings, allowing one hit on 31 pitches. He turned the ball over to Tyler Dean, who retired the side in order on 10 pitches and struck out two in the seventh.

With the run rule in effect, South Carolina only needed three more runs in the bottom half of the inning to win the game. And the Gamecocks would get those runs, capping the win off with a bases loaded walk by Tippett.

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Up next: South Carolina is right back in action on Wednesday against Queens. First pitch is at 4 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Matthew Becker is slated to make the start on the bump.

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