South Carolina is set to begin its final SEC road series this weekend with a visit to No. 8 Auburn, but the team will once again be without one of its biggest stars — Ethan Petry.
Head coach Paul Mainieri confirmed that Petry will miss his second consecutive weekend due to a shoulder injury he sustained during the Gamecocks’ series at Kentucky. The junior outfielder is currently sidelined with “a strain of the AC joint in his left shoulder.”
“We’d be lucky to have him back, probably for the SEC Tournament, is my guess. I guess there’s an outside chance for the LSU series,” said Mainieri. “He’s getting better every day, but I knew it was going to probably be a four-week process.”
Before the injury, Petry was having another standout season, batting .329 with 10 home runs and 34 RBIs over 43 games. He remains just 10 homers shy of breaking Justin Smoak’s all-time career home run record at South Carolina.
Though Petry won’t travel to Auburn, he continues daily treatment with the team’s training staff. His expected recovery window is two to four weeks.
“I know the kid desperately wants to get back and play. God, he’s such a great kid. I mean, I’m brokenhearted about the injury,” Mainieri said. “He’s had such a great career here, and you hate to see it end with him not being able to play. So I know he’s trying to get back, but I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll play this weekend.”
The Gamecocks are also monitoring the status of freshman first baseman Beau Hollins, who picked up a leg injury during the Kentucky series. Mainieri said Hollins has been dealing with soreness behind his knee after sliding in one of the games. He played the next two games but sat out both matchups in Sunday’s doubleheader against Florida.
“I just talked to Beau, and I think it’s a little bit better,” Mainieri said. “He’s not going to go through a full practice today. He’s going to do what he can do. It’ll probably be a game day decision.”
South Carolina will open the three-game series against the Tigers on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Plainsman Park, with the game airing on ESPNU.
