Four things to watch for as South Carolina hosts Air Force in fall baseball scrimmage

The Paul Mainieri era will (un)officially begin Saturday afternoon. After playing intra-squad scrimmages for weeks on end, South Carolina will get a chance to play someone new for a change when Air Force comes to town.

The Gamecocks and Falcons will take part in a 14-inning scrimmage with first pitch at 4 p.m. from Founders Park. Just like the other scrimmages, this exhibition game will be free and open to the public.

Here are four things to watch for on Saturday.

Deeper meaning

When Mainieri initially accepted the head coaching job at South Carolina in June, one of the first phone calls he got was from Air Force head coach Mike Kazlausky. The two go way back to when Kazlausky played under Mainieri from 1989-91 during his time as the Falcons’ head coach.

“I actually coached Mike his sophomore, junior and senior years, which were my first three years at the Academy,” Mainieri said. “Mike was like that player that, I don’t even know how to describe him, he was a baseball rat. You’re at a military institution with the most difficult academic challenges that there is — I couldn’t hardly drag him off the field to get him up on the hill to do the stuff he was supposed to be doing.”

So, when Kazlausky learned his old coach would be coming out of the retirement to join the Gamecocks, he had a proposal for him.

“The first thing out of his mouth was, ‘What are you crazy?’ And I said, ‘Mike, I just couldn’t stay away.’ And then he said, ‘Okay, well, let’s play a fall game.’ That was the second thing out of his mouth,” Mainieri said.

“So it turns out Oct. 26 there’s no football game, home or away, and it’s late enough in fall practice where I think we’ll be able to put a representative team out there where we’ll have an idea what our guys can do.”

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Mainieri happily accepted Kazlausky’s idea of Air Force playing South Carolina in a fall scrimmage. Kazlausky has been the head coach at Air Force since 2011 and has compiled a 318-406 record over that time.

After his playing days were over, Kazlausky served for two years in the United States Air Force as a pilot.

“He did serve our country and flew (Boeing) C-17s to the Middle East very frequently with bullets whizzing by the cockpit. Unfortunately many times he had to transport deceased soldiers back,” Mainieri said. “So, I consider Mike a war hero. He’s the most dedicated patriot I know in my life. He believes in everything the Air Force Academy stands for times a 100.”

How’s the team looking?

Despite playing in scrimmages almost every day during the week, Saturday might be the first time some fans will see the new-look Gamecocks in action. And that’s what this team is. There are a lot of new faces on the roster, 27 in fact.

If you’re looking to see how each player has performed so far, here’s the most recent update from GamecockCentral through the first 12 scrimmages. There will be another full updated stat tracker story once the fall comes to an end in a few weeks, exclusively for GamecockCentral subscribers.

But to give a brief synopsis of how the team has looked, it varies by the day. A lot of the veteran pitchers have thrown well in their multiple appearances to this point. The names that have stood out include Matthew Becker, Eli Jerzembeck, and Roman Kimball to name a few. From a newcomer standpoint, right-handers Ryder Garino and Max McClellan had been pitching well on the mound.

At the plate, there have been days where the offense has pounded the pitching and others where runs have been hard to come by. Some notable standouts include Will Tippett, Henry Kaczmar, Kennedy Jones, Nathan Hall, and Talmadge LeCroy. They’ve all been swinging the bats consistently.

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Defensively, there were some head-scratching errors made in a few of the scrimmages. Some of them were due to the sun shining in the players’ eyes, others were just players not making the play. But as of late, the defense has been looking a lot better with some games featuring no errors at all.

And in case you’re wondering, Ethan Petry is still Ethan Petry. He’s had at least three at-bats where he nearly hit home runs but the wind kept the balls in. He’s going to be just fine, don’t worry. Just look at the stat tracker for reference.

What could the “starting” nine look like?

Keep in mind, this is just a scrimmage and it doesn’t count towards anything. However, it should be an early sign of how the team has come along since the start of the fall.

With this being a 14-inning contest, everyone should have a chance to play at one point or another. It’s going to be interesting to see how long the pitchers throw in this scrimmage or if all pitchers on the roster will make appearances.

As for the position players, they should all see some action out on the field. But, of course, a lot of people are going to be interested to see what the “starting” nine might look like. It might not mean much since a lot can change between now and Opening Day, but here’s an educated guess as to what a hypothetical “starting” nine could look like, especially on Saturday.

Catcher: Talmadge LeCroy

First base: Beau Hollins

Second base: Will Tippett or Cayden Gaskin

Shortstop: Henry Kaczmar

Third base: Ethan Petry

Left field: Kennedy Jones

Center field: Nathan Hall

Right field: Jase Woita

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Roster trimming

At the start of the fall, South Carolina had 48 players on its roster. Heading into this weekend’s scrimmage, that number will be cut down to 45. And by Opening Day in February, the roster goes down to 40 players.

In the days leading up to the matchup, there have been two players who have come out publicly and announced their decision to enter the transfer portal. A pair of right-handed pitchers, Joey Wittig and Reese Marcum, were seemingly the first to be cut from the team.

Both players were recruited by the previous staff before Mainieri was hired. Wittig pitched in five games last season and gave up five runs over 6.2 innings. He struck out six and walked three. Marcum, a nearby Lexington native, didn’t pitch at all in 2024. He pitched 3.1 innings in the fall and gave up three runs with four strikeouts and two walks.

Before Saturday, there will surely be at least one more player off the roster to meet the NCAA requirement. So far, Wittig and Marcum have been the only ones to make it official they are moving on.

Rosters will only get smaller from here when they’ll decrease to 34 in 2025-26 when all players will be eligible for full scholarships.

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