Born in Phoenix, AZ, Joey Tepper moved to Fort Mill with his family when he was ten years old after his dad’s job was relocated to the area. Now on the third stop of his collegiate baseball career, Tepper is back in town getting ready to suit up for the Winthrop Eagles.
“Thankfully, Coach Riginos and his staff gave me the opportunity to come play at Winthrop and live out my dream. I’m very blessed that they gave me that opportunity and I’m excited to be here,” Tepper said.
Coming out of high school, Tepper was offered a couple of preferred walk-on spots (including one at UNC-Charlotte), but Spartanburg Methodist College (a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association) was the only school to truly offer him a chance to play.
“Coach [Tim] Wallace gave me an opportunity and he told me, ‘I know you want to play Division I baseball. There’s no reason you can’t come here for a couple of years then go and live your dream out.’”
Tepper said he trusted Wallace and took his word. Sure enough, after two seasons at SMC, Tepper got the opportunity he was hoping for.
“There was a bunch of DII offers that were kind of rolling in, but in the back of my head I was always like ‘I want to play Division I baseball,’” he said.
“Middle to end of the season my sophomore year, Furman actually came to one of our games. I had a really good game and got to go on a visit and see the campus and their facilities, and I fell in love and committed pretty quickly.”
But Tepper’s first season with the Paladins was cut short. Through the team’s first 17 games, he got to play in just seven before COVID-19 halted the 2019-2020 season last March. To make matters worse, two months later the Furman Board of Trustees unanimously voted to eliminate the school’s baseball program as one way of addressing the financial impact of the pandemic.
“It was a lot to take in,” Tepper said. “A lot of the guys didn’t really know where their futures were going to end up.”
Tepper, however, had Winthrop on his radar.
“When I was back at SMC, right before I started talking to Furman, Winthrop actually called me and I got to talk to Coach [Robert] Monday a little bit. They never really pulled the trigger, or they found someone else, whatever the case may have been.”
Once things unraveled at Furman, Tepper said he texted Daniel Blair, his former roommate at SMC. Blair had transferred to Winthrop and was part of the Eagles’ pitching rotation in 2020. Blair contacted his coaches, and within days they made Tepper a Winthrop Eagle.
“Due to the cancelation of Furman Baseball, I am blessed to say I will finish my baseball and academic career at Winthrop University. God always has a plan,” Tepper shared on Twitter.
With two years of eligibility left, Tepper is determined to earn playing time in the infield at Winthrop. He’s no stranger to hard work; his dad was drafted by the Cleveland Indians after playing at an NAIA school in Texas.
While Tepper would also love the chance to pursue a professional baseball career, he does have other career paths in mind. After his playing days are over, he’s interested in becoming a sports agent or a coach.
“I think my life would be weird if I just gave up sports completely,” he said. “Just being around the game and learning from other coaches and other people, and just try to climb the ranks there and see where it takes me.”
Winthrop is set to take the field for the first time this season on Feb. 19 against Appalachian State. The Eagles ranked 40th in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s pre-season poll, but the team isn’t taking anything for granted.
“Like Coach TR has told us, that just means that other people think that we’re good,” Tepper said. “We haven’t proven anything yet, but I’m real excited to get going with these guys and see where we are at the end of the year.”
Photo courtesy of Winthrop Athletics
