Paul Mainieri addresses South Carolina fan attendance at games: 'I don't blame them'

Paul Mainieri understands the lack of fan support for South Carolina baseball in his inaugural season as head coach. Admittedly, there wasn’t a lot to cheer for.

The Gamecocks finished with a lackluster 28-28 record to earn the No. 15 seed in the SEC Tournament, where their season will most likely end. It will mark the second time in the past four seasons that they will have failed to make the NCAA Tournament.

Speaking with the media on Monday, Mainieri didn’t attempt to make excuses or blame the fans for the rather sparse crowds in 2025. He knows that better results will fix that.

“I don’t blame (the fans) for not coming to the games,” Mainieri said, according to Jack Vetri of Gamecock Central. “We didn’t have a great product on the field this year. … If I was a fan, I would want to support a winning team as well.”

South Carolina lost eight of its final nine conference games. The lone bright spot was an upset win over No. 1 LSU on May 15, rewarding the fans who did show up to Founders Park.

But as rough as this season has been, Mainieri believes there are lessons to be learned from the hardship that will help his team improve in 2026. He’s had success previously at LSU, which he twice led to College World Series titles in 2009 and 2023. He’ll lean on that going forward as he looks to build the South Carolina program back up.

“Sometimes you have to almost get to rock bottom before you can start to make the improvement to get the program to where you want it to be,” Mainieri said. “I don’t have any doubt we’re going to get there.”

The Gamecocks will take on Florida in the first round of the SEC Tournament at 5:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. South Carolina suffered a sweep to the Gators in a three-game series earlier this month but will hope for a different result as it looks to close out the year on a somewhat positive note.

This season might not have been what most fans hoped for, but Mainieri believes improvement is on the way soon. With an incoming freshman class and a year to work with the players he already had on his roster, the Gamecocks can hopefully get back in the tournament by next season.