Kerry big piece of Gamecocks' dominant opening weekend bullpen

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASEBALL

Brett Kerry knew something was up heading into the winter break.

He wasn’t pitching up to his capabilities, and left campus after a sit-down with the coaching staff when he was told something needed to change.

Now, after what he called an “unbelievable” opening weekend, it seems like something from that conversation stuck.

“I think for me it was more mental,” Kerry said Sunday. “I just needed to challenge myself and I can’t be scared to get hit. If I walk people, it is what it is. I just need to go out there and compete.”

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Kerry saw action in both of the Gamecocks’ wins this weekend, being used as a big piece at the back of the bullpen.

He’s thrown three perfect innings over two games and has struck out five of the nine batters he’s faced.

It’s been a long road for Kerry already, who was sitting around 88 or 89 miles per hour on his fastball in the fall, and things quickly changed after his conversation with the coaching staff.

Now, he’s already in the low-90s on his fastball velocity, topping out at 93 miles per hour with the adrenaline pumping Saturday.

“In the fall we challenged him and he needed to be better than what we had seen up to that point. He came back with a chip on his shoulder,” Mark Kingston said. “That’s good to see; when you challenge guys, you want to see how they react. He’s been good all spring and had two great outings so far this weekend.”

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Kerry played a big part for a Gamecock bullpen that had a dominant weekend to start the season.

With starters Carmen Mlodzinski and Dylan Harley getting chased early in their starts, nine different pitchers combined to throw 16 innings and gave up just three earned runs for a 1.69 ERA over the first three games.

They combined to give up eight hits and had a 5.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Of the 259 pitches they threw, 66 percent (171) were for strikes.

Of the eight runners bullpen pitchers inherited this weekend, none of those came around to score, and both wins were credited to bullpen pitchers: TJ Shook and Kerry.

“Brett coming in two days straight and was just lights-out,” said Reid Morgan, who went six innings Sunday as a starter. “That’s amazing to see. That’s really good to see as a starter when you feel you got guys behind you that will do what they do and get people out.”

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Now the Gamecocks (2-1) will have a decision to make heading into this week with two midweek games on the docket: Tuesday against Winthrop and Wednesday against Presbyterian.

Only three healthy pitchers didn’t throw this weekend—Wesley Sweatt, Parker Coyne and Gage Hinson—and the first two are likely the leading candidates to start Tuesday, but things could change.

Kingston mentioned the Gamecocks could opt to piece together a game with bullpen arms in limited outings.

“We’ll look at everything. We’ll see from a pitch count standpoint who’s available. Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year could be a lot of different guys,” he said. “You see when we bring our bullpen guys in for one or two innings at a time, they seem to be real good in that role. We’re going to decide what the best way is to try to have the best success on those Tuesday nights.”