When Justin Parker took the South Carolina pitching coach job, he brought a list of recruits with him he wanted to make Gamecocks at some point.

One of those was Tyler Pitzer, who was being recruited by Parker at Indiana and turned into a Gamecock target quickly.

Pitzer’s recruitment ended earlier this month with his commitment to South Carolina, the first public commitment since Parker took the gig in mid-July.

“Usually when some coaches do that they go there and forget about you, but coach Parker took me with him to South Carolina. I thought that was really awesome and it meant a lot to me,” Pitzer told GamecockCentral.

“I took that into consideration with South Carolina. Then I went down to campus to take a look at the fields and just loved it. I was like, ‘I have to go here.’”

Parker, who came over after three years with the Hoosiers, was a big reason why Pitzer wanted to come play at South Carolina.

The 2023 right-handed pitcher build a good bond with Parker during his time in Bloomington and it continued as the team’s new pitching coach got settled in Columbia.

“My main takeaway is he’s a real fun guy,” Pitzer said. “He’s a happy personality and never been in a bad mood on a call. He’s always uplifting and in a great mood.”

Pitzer took an unofficial visit to South Carolina this summer and the campus ultimately sealed the deal.

“I love the fit of it. It’s not extremely spread out,” he said. “It’s a big campus but all compact together. When I saw the baseball field, I was in awe. It was extremely impressive.”

In terms of what the Gamecocks are getting, Pitzer is someone who pounds the zone and can ratchet his fastball up to 90 at times.

Entering his junior season, Pitzer has topped out at 90 miles per hour—he sits around 88—with a two-seam fastball, changeup and curveball to pair with it.

“I like to throw strikes and pound the zone. I like being under pressure and don’t like cracking under pressure. I definitely pump the zone,” Pitzer said. “The two main things I remember is (Parker) liked my athleticism on the mound and the way I moved down the mound, then the way I threw strikes consistently.”

He’s the Gamecocks’ sixth right-handed pitcher in the class, and seventh pitcher overall, in the class and is hoping to get down to campus sometime in the fall for a football game.

Before that, though, he’ll begin training in the fall with the hope of increasing his fastball velocity even more without sacrificing his strike-throwing ability.

“I definitely say velo, but I want the velo to work and be able to throw strikes with the velo. I’ll say I want to increase my velo but also throw strikes with it.”

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