Baseball's Hopkins, Kerry Earn Weekly Honors After Clemson Series
Both players helped the Gamecocks to a Palmetto Series win over Clemson.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Senior outfielder TJ Hopkins has been named the Southeastern Conference Baseball Player of the Week while freshman righthanded pitcher Brett Kerry was named the conference’s Co-Freshman of the Week, it was announced this afternoon (Monday, March 4). Hopkins also was named a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Magazine. Both players helped the Gamecocks to a series win over Palmetto State rival Clemson this past weekend.
Hopkins earned the Tom Price Award, named for the Gamecocks’ Most Valuable Player in the Clemson series, by hitting three home runs and driving in nine runs in the Palmetto Series win over the Tigers. Hopkins went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI in Sunday’s win. He added a home run in each game of the series, including the go-ahead three-run home run in the second inning of Friday’s win, and he now has 16 RBI on the season to go with a team-best five home runs. Hopkins was given the Tom Price Award for the second time in history, as he earned the honor in 2017.
Kerry did yeoman’s work for the Gamecock bullpen, earning two saves while striking out nine in 4.1 innings pitched. He struck out a pair in the ninth as Carolina defeated Appalachian State, 3-1, on Tuesday night. Kerry’s big moment came in the Friday night win at Clemson. Coming on with a runner on first and two out in the sixth, he induced a groundout, then scattered two hits with seven strikeouts the final three hits as Carolina held on for a 5-4 win. He struck out the side, all looking, in the eighth while striking out the final two batters of the game. Kerry is now 2-0 with two saves and a 0.00 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 9.1 innings pitched this season.
In other conference awards, Auburn’s Tanner Burns was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week and Kerry joined Mississippi State’s JT Ginn as Co-Freshmen of the Week.
The Gamecocks have five games this week at Founders Park, starting with a 4 p.m. contest against The Citadel on Tuesday, March 5.
