Jonah Bride's career at South Carolina 'means everything' to him

Growing up in Oklahoma, Jonah Bride wasn’t exposed to South Carolina as in-depth as some of the players on this year’s roster from South Carolina or Georgia or North Carolina.

He had a childhood friend on the roster—Braden Webb, also from Owasso, Oklahoma—and when he took his visit to South Carolina he fell in love.

Over 170 games and 111 wins later, the rest is history.

“It was indescribable to see the atmosphere, especially when I got here,” Bride said. “It’s been more than I’ve expected for sure.”

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Bride came in from Neosho Community College in Kansas and jumped right into the starting lineup, playing every game his first two years at third base with a career .283 average heading into his final season.

This year, he’s started every game with all but three coming at third base. Something’s clicked for him, too and he—along with almost every senior—is having the best season of his career.

He’s hitting .324 with the majority of his at-bats coming from the cleanup spot and has driven in a career-high 25 runs hitting around Madison Stokes, who’s also a big bat in the Gamecock lineup.

“They’re both having career years offensively,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “They’ve both been good defensively for us. I think Jonah’s regarded as one of the top third baseman around, and they’re going to be missed.”

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Now, Bride and the Gamecocks are trying to scrap and claw their way into a postseason berth, which would be just Bride’s second time in a regional during his career.

He knows what it’s like to win a regional—the Gamecocks came back from the loser’s bracket to advance in 2016—but has never experienced a win in a Super Regional.

They were swept in two games by Oklahoma State that year and heading into this year’s stretch run, Bride wants to know what that feeling of winning one of those games is like.

“That’s definitely in my head,” he said. “My first year, we made it to a super and ran into a hot team at the time. To play the last games we have and finish the regular season strong and go into the postseason, we just have to stay confident and continue to try and play our best ball.”

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Bride was honored Saturday with the rest of the five seniors on the team and played his final home game at Founders Park Sunday, a 1-0 walk-off win against Missouri.

“I’ve loved the last three years here and I wish I could spend more,” Bride said. “The last stretch, it means everything.”