Baseball Quartet Picked on the Final Day of the MLB Draft

COLUMBIA – Redshirt sophomore Luke Berryhill, junior Reid Morgan and seniors Jacob Olson and Ridge Chapman of the University of South Carolina baseball team were selected on the final day of the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Wednesday afternoon (June 5).
 
Berryhill continued a trend of Gamecocks picked by Cincinnati, going in the 13^th round to the Reds. Morgan also went in the 13^th round to the Seattle Mariners, while Olson was a 26^th round pick by the Chicago Cubs. Chapman was selected by the Los Angeles Angels in the 34^th round.
 
Berryhill played and started in all 56 games for the Gamecocks this season, leading the team in doubles (15) and RBI (49) while hitting .271 with 12 home runs and eight stolen bases. He threw out 13 runners trying to steal, catching in 53 of South Carolina’s 56 games. He had a team-best 25-game reached base streak this year and had 14 multi-RBI performances. He was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, five RBI and two home runs in a win over Clemson on March 3 and drove in four against Vanderbilt on May 3.
 
Morgan led the Gamecocks with 14 starts on the mound in 2019, going 4-6 with a 3.80 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 87.2 innings pitched. Morgan earned the win against Clemson on March 3, striking out five and allowing just two earned runs in 6.2 innings. He had a season-high 10 strikeouts in 8.2 innings against Valparaiso on March 9 and pitched seven scoreless frames, allowing just five hits with four punchouts in a 4-0 win over Auburn (March 30). Morgan picked up his fourth win of the year against Kentucky (May 11), striking out eight in six innings of work.
 
Olson played and started all 56 games for Carolina in 2019, leading the team with 13 home runs to go along with 14 doubles and 37 RBI. The senior had a .502 slugging percentage and was a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen bases. In his three-year career with the Gamecocks, Olson hit .260 with 44 doubles, 31 home runs and 100 RBI. He had 16 multi-hit games and had three multi-home run games his senior season, including a walk-off winner against No. 3 North Carolina State on April 2.
 
Chapman pitched in the 2019 season opener vs. Liberty, striking out three in 1.2 innings of work, but missed the rest of the season due to injury. He pitched in 16 games with six starts in 2018, striking out 36 batters in 38.1 innings pitched. Chapman was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 17^th round of the 2018 MLB Draft before returning to school.
 
Six signees also were picked on day three of the draft as Andrew Peters (21^st round) went to Tampa Bay, Brennan Milone (28^th round) was picked by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Noah Myers (30^th round) was selected by Toronto, Brannon Jordan (31^st round) went to Tampa Bay, Thomas Farr (37^th round) was picked by Texas and Jeff Heinrich (40^th round) went to San Francisco.
 
South Carolina Selections in the 2019 MLB Draft
Rd (Pick)          Name                                      Team
3 (85)              Tyler Callihan*                        Cincinnati Reds
4 (114)            Ivan Johnson*                         Cincinnati Reds
9 (264)            TJ Hopkins                               Cincinnati Reds
13 (384)          Luke Berryhill                          Cincinnati Reds
13 (396)          Reid Morgan                           Seattle Mariners
21 (638)          Andrew Peters*                      Tampa Bay Rays
26 (792)          Jacob Olson                             Chicago Cubs
28 (851)          Brennan Milone*                    Los Angeles Dodgers
30 (897)          Noah Myers*                          Toronto Blue Jays
31 (938)          Brannon Jordan*                     Tampa Bay Rays
34 (1021)        Ridge Chapman                       Los Angeles Angels
35 (1066)        James Nix*                              Houston Astros
37 (1105)        Thomas Farr*                          Texas Rangers
40 (1196)        Jeff Heinrich*                          San Francisco Giants
* Signee