Pitcher arrested for drunkenness, indefinitely suspended
Heading into the series against Kentucky, South Carolina coach Ray Tanner wasn’t fooled by the Wildcats’ nonconference schedule.
“They are one of those teams that are better at home than they are on the road, at least with my experience with Kentucky,” Tanner said Wednesday. “They’re talented and maybe they haven’t played the toughest schedule in the country, but they’ve played good opponents and they’ve played them close — they’ve won some games with their bats.”
Kentucky improved to 21-0 with its hitting, as the Gamecocks were swept for the first time since a 2009 series against Florida. South Carolina amassed 31 hits on the weekend, but drove in just nine runs in three games. In contrast, the Wildcats had 26 hits with 14 runs.
The difference was in the bullpen, as freshman pitcher Evan Beal surrendered a walk-off homer in the first game for Kentucky to win 4-3, and junior pitchers Tyler Webb and Nolan Belcher and freshman pitcher Joel Seddon combined to give up three runs in the sixth inning of the third game for UK to take a 6-3 lead that it would not relinquish. The Wildcats scored all four of their runs against starting junior pitcher Matt Price in the second game to take a 4-3 win.
The trouble for the Gamecocks (15-4, 0-3 SEC) started before the first pitch on Friday, however, as several media outlets reported that junior reliever Ethan Carter had been arrested a week earlier for drunkenness. Carter returned to the Gamecocks this season after being dismissed from the team last season for a violation of team rules.
Though the arrest occurred on March 10, Tanner told reporters in Kentucky that he was aware of an incident, but not an arrest.
According to the incident report, Carter was “laying motionless in the mulch bed” next to a roadway when a police officer asked Carter to stand up. Carter tried, but “was too unsteady on his feet and stumbled backwards into a parking meter,” the report said.
Per school athletic policy, any arrest results in an indefinite suspension, but Carter was not suspended until Friday, when Tanner was made aware of the arrest. When asked what the arrest means for Carter’s future with the team, Tanner told reporters in Lexington, Ky., that he wasn’t sure.
The Gamecocks will have an uphill battle in rebounding from the Kentucky loss, as they play five games in a row that culminate with a series against No. 1 Florida. The Gamecocks are No. 8 in the Baseball America poll after the Kentucky sweep. USC will start its stretch of games by playing Furman at Fluor Field today.
Freshman pitcher Jordan Montgomery was named the starting pitcher, with senior Adam Westmoreland set to pitch against Wofford Wednesday. In Montgomery’s last start, he allowed four runs in the first inning against Appalachian State before retiring every batter faced in the rest of his outing en route to a USC victory. Tanner said that outing was a learning experience for Montgomery.
“He gave up a couple Seeing Eye dogs and then he gave up a couple long ones after that,” Tanner said. “It was tough, and I talked to him between innings after the first and I said, ‘You’re going back out there — this is the growing-up time. Hopefully, you can settle in and give us a chance to make a run.’ He was really good from that point on.”
The Gamecocks will look to use the adversity from the Kentucky series as a growing experience as they embark on one of their most challenging stretches of schedule. Junior first baseman Christian Walker said before the weekend that the team is equipped to handle setbacks.
“That’s the good thing about this team — you never really hit the panic button,” Walker said. “No matter how much we’re down or how much we’re up, we still play the same ... If anything, we’re always comfortable. It’s a great quality to have as a team, and it’s going to win you a lot of games.”