Petry Belts a Pair in Baseball's Saturday Win over Miami (Ohio)

COLUMBIA  – Ethan Petry belted a pair of home runs and Dylan Eskew allowed just one hit with six strikeouts in five innings of work as the University of South Carolina baseball team defeated Miami (Ohio), 11-4, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 17) at Founders Park.

Petry was 0-for-5 for the season until he took a Lukas Galdoni pitch 420 feet over the wall in center field. He added a home run to the bullpen in right in the fifth.

Eskew earned the win with his five-inning start. He allowed an unearned run and a hit with four walks and the six strikeouts. Four relievers came in after Eskew, led by Connor McCreery and Drake Quinn’s scoreless innings of work.

The Gamecocks had two big innings at the plate. For the second straight day, the second inning was beneficial as Carolina put up a four-spot. Tyler Causey’s RBI double tied the game at one. Dylan Brewer brought in a run on a sacrifice fly and Will Tippett scored Causey with an infield single. Blake Jackson’s single up the middle made it 4-1.

Then in the fifth, the Gamecocks broke through for five runs, started by a Petry homer. Brewer and Tippett both had bases-loaded walks and Jackson drove in a pair with single to center.

Jackson had two hits and three RBI while Causey and Petry also had two hits. Talmadge LeCroy scored a pair of runs, while Brewer and Tippett had two RBI apiece.

POSTGAME NOTES

• It was Petry’s fourth multi-home run game as a Gamecock.
• Jackson now has a team-best four RBI after two games.
• Eskew and Eli Jones have combined to go 11 innings in the past two starts with 11 strikeouts and just four hits allowed.
• Lee Ellis, Ryan Bakes, Dalton Reeves, Jevarra Martin, Drake Quinn and Joey Wittig each saw their first action as a Gamecock in Saturday’s game.

UP NEXT
Carolina and Miami (Ohio) close out the three-game series Sunday afternoon (Feb. 18) at 1:30 p.m. at Founders Park. The game will be on SEC Network Plus.