South Carolina Baseball: Ethan Petry racking up postseason awards

South Carolina baseball star Ethan Petry had such a good season that fans often forgot that he was just a freshman…or, at least, they would have had they not constantly been reminded that he was in his first year by the fact that he shattered almost every freshman Gamecock record in existence.

On the year, Petry broke the freshman USC batting average record (hitting .376 this year) and knocked off Gamecock great Justin Smoak’s freshman home run record with 23 long balls and Smoak’s freshman RBI record with 75.

Understandably so, the big freshman has received boatloads of accolades for his great play in the 2023 season.

During the year, he won four different SEC Freshman of the Week awards, two SEC Player of the Week honors, two National Player of the Week nods, was the mid-season National Freshman of the Year, and was one of 25 semi-finalists for the Golden Spikes award given to the country’s top player.

After the season, he was named a first-team All-SEC player (along with catcher Cole Messina). He would have also been the SEC’s Freshman of the Year, but redshirt freshmen are eligible for the award, and Georgia’s Charlie Condon took home the trophy.

Now, Petry has received more honors. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has named their All-American teams and the talented Gamecock was chosen as a first-team freshman All-American.

South Carolina baseball fans are lucky that Division-I freshmen are not draft-eligible. If they were, Ethan Petry would be a high draft pick in this year’s Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, and he would never play college baseball again.

However, because Petry is going to have to play at least three seasons of college ball, Gamecock fans will get to watch his offensive greatness for two or three more years.

Coming to South Carolina as a third baseman, Petry played right field in 2023 while sophomore Talmadge LeCroy manned the hot corner. It is unclear if a position change will be in the works for #20 for next season, but one thing is certain: his bat will be in the lineup, and Gamecock baseball will be better off for it.