Confidence, experience and family guide Ethan Petry's hot start

Sitting next to his older brother en route to a road high school baseball game, Ethan Petry needed to say something.

The Cypress Creek High School star was well aware of the fact his brother Peyton — 19 months his senior — was two home runs ahead of him on the team leaderboard. Opportunities to close the gap were dwindling late in the season.

"He was struggling to get the ball over the fence and I was giving him crap," Peyton told GamecockScoop. "He looked at me on the bus, and he said, 'you're not effing beating me in this home run race.' He hit two home runs in the same game and tied me, and we finished the season tied."

For Ethan, this was where he was most comfortable. Not just playing baseball, but doing it with confidence. A primarily quiet but always present swagger dripping off of a laid-back kid whenever he steps to the plate against bigger, older opponents.

"When I was younger I faced guys that were older than me," Ethan told GamecockScoop. "I didn't take it into mind that people were older; I kind of just went out there and hit, fielded and played the game. It's the same game."

The 18-year-old freshman has been a lynchpin in South Carolina's 17-1 start. He secured a starting spot in just the third game of the season against UMass-Lowell, hit his first career home run that afternoon and never looked back.

"It was just a surreal experience," Petry's dad Jason told GamecockScoop. "We were just excited that he got in, and then he got the start on Sunday and hit his first home run. He's so excited to be a part of the winning right now."

His .450 batting average currently leads the team as the Gamecocks prepare to open SEC play Friday night at Georgia. In a sport where the transition between high school and college frequently overwhelms players, grinding in the thick of an offense built around experienced transfers with collegiate track records, the 6-foot-4 Petry has carved out his plot of land in right field for Mark Kingston's team.

It's not the first time.

"Ever since he was small, he was always playing up," Jason said. "I think that kind of formulated his decision that if you don't like it right now, you're never going to like it, and he absolutely loved it. He never showed fear, because he wanted to play baseball."

When he was three years old, Petry noticed Peyton starting to play baseball. He wanted in, and his parents found a local YMCA. For whatever passes as baseball at age three, Petry loved it. He craved being around it — and his brother — as much as possible.

Playing major college baseball as a freshman is an extension of what he has always been. The natural next step for a kid who started at three when his brother was five, played on an under-18 team when he was 14 and worked out with New York Mets superstar Pete Alonso — who he credits with helping him "stay the course" — as a high schooler.

Kingston's first interaction with Petry was a facetime phone call during the pandemic. He had never met his future head coach or set foot in Founders Park, but it clicked immediately.

"He was just like, 'I think I want to be a Gamecock,'" Ethan's mom Kellie told GamecockScoop. "We kind of slept on it a few nights, and he sold us. It was like, 'I think that's right where you need to be.'"

For all the conviction he had in his decision, he struggled early in Columbia. No amount of at-bats against travel team arms with professional futures or older high school opponents can fully prepare someone for moving out on their own at 18.

He fought through a slump in the fall scrimmages. He battled the pitfalls all freshmen go through learning how to be a student-athlete. At times, he lost confidence in that clean swing Gamecock fans have already grown to love.

Every time, his brother was there for him.

"I talk to him every day," Ethan said. "He told me to stay calm. He helped me out during the fall because he's been at the college level, but at this point he just said it's all in my hands. I used to care so much about how I performed, but now I could care less as long as the team wins."

Peyton is a sophomore pitcher at Division II Saint Leo University, and his experience on the mound helped Ethan mend his swing. Those daily conversations were about everything from life as a ballplayer to scattered hobbies off the diamond. Fishing. Star Wars. Their shared love of pick-up basketball, games Peyton swears he holds the upper hand in.

Eventually, these talks evolved into something entirely different and more beneficial. Once they started talking about pitching, and more specifically how Peyton's mindset as a college pitcher could help straighten out Ethan's swing, the chats took on a new meaning.

It changed everything.

"The whole mentality piece is what the key conversation was about," Peyton said. "He started feeling better about himself when he started to get at-bats. He got hit after hit after hit and once you start a game, you know that experience and you know the feeling. I think he for sure adapted to it right away. He wasn't scared, he took his opportunity and he just went with it."

Peyton told Ethan where to look in the strike zone and reminded him that if a pitcher got him out one way in an at-bat, he would likely try to return to it the next time. They broke down sequencing, Ethan bouncing what he saw from South Carolina's pitchers in scrimmages off how Peyton would approach certain situations. Sidelined since last season with Tommy John surgery, Peyton poured everything he has learned from mentally battling through his injury into his (not so) little brother as he stumbled and eventually muscled through a different kind of head blockage.

Five of Ethan's six home runs have come on two-strike pitches, the sign of a hitter understanding sequencing well beyond his years. He leads the team in sacrifice flies, another indicator of a shorter approach at the plate in situations where just a flyball is required. He has seamlessly assimilated into South Carolina's clubhouse, another benefit of constantly surrounding himself with older peers.

"He's really good at adapting to different cultures and getting to know people," Peyton said. "He's very coachable. He'll listen to stuff I say, and I'm not even a hitter."

When SEC play starts, Petry will find himself in a familiar position. Less than a calendar year removed from high school baseball, he will dig in against some of the best college pitchers in America. Pitchers with three, four, some even five more years of experience than him. Future first-round draft picks. Triple-digit velocity.

His unique mindset will persist, a cocktail combining his almost startling calmness born out of countless reps and that fiery competitiveness. More conversations with Peyton are a guarantee.

For a player who first forayed into baseball because of someone older than him, a freshman breakout on a team of upperclassmen was the only way this could go.

"I just can't believe what he's taken on and just been so mature about it," Kellie said. "He's had a little adversity struggling, and he worked through it and we're just very proud of him."

He's been doing this his whole life.

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