South Carolina Baseball: Gamecock pitcher has dominant outing, pitches shutout
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina baseball had its season come to an end at the hands of the Florida Gators about a month ago in the Gainesville super regional. However, with several players receiving call-ups to Major League Baseball (TJ Hopkins and Carmen Mlodzinski), an active approach in the transfer portal, and a loaded Gamecock class in the 2023 MLB Draft, South Carolina baseball news hasn’t slowed down this summer.
On Friday, however, something that actually happened on the field was the center point of the South Carolina baseball headlines.
In a game with the Lexington Blowfish, Gamecock pitcher Austin Williamson was brilliant. Against the Forest City Owls, the Carolina rising sophomore pitched a complete game shutout in the Blowfish’s 2-0 victory. Williamson struck out 7 Owls in what was a 7-inning shutout (the game was 7 innings because it was the second leg of a doubleheader).
Williamson could play a vital role on next year’s Gamecock squad. South Carolina baseball lost six potential pitchers from next year’s team in the 2023 MLB Draft.
Jack Mahoney (3rd round to the Colorado Rockies), Will Sanders (4th round to the Chicago Cubs), Matt Duffy (4th round to the Boston Red Sox), Noah Hall (7th round to the New York Mets), James Hicks (13th round to the Houston Astros), and Cade Austin (19th round to the New York Yankees) were all selected, and all six are expected to sign contracts, ending their college eligibility.
No pitching role has been set in stone for the 2024 Gamecocks after so much attrition from last year’s team, but Eli Jones, Matthew Becker, Roman Kimball, and transfer Ty Good are all expected to compete for starting jobs and Chris Veach will be a big bullpen piece if he is healthy after his hip surgeries.
The right-handed Williamson is in play to compete to join those more experienced players as the key hurlers next season for new pitching coach Matt Williams.