Report: Justin Parker leaving South Carolina for same position at another SEC school
For the third time in Mark Kingston’s tenure, South Carolina will have to hire a new pitching coach, according to a report from Mississippi State’s 247 Sports site.
Gamecocks assistant Justin Parker is leaving the program to take the same position at Mississippi State. He’ll head to Starkville after two seasons at South Carolina.
Parker was hired after the 2021 season, replacing Skylar Meade who had just left to take the Troy head coaching job. Parker came to South Carolina after stints at UCF and Indiana.
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After a rough 2022 when the Gamecocks dealt with a bevy of injuries on the pitching staff, they rebounded in 2023 with a really good year on the mound.
That year, Cade Austin and Matthew Becker were key pieces of the bullpen. The Gamecocks got as much as they could from guys like Will Sanders and Noah Hall.
Still dealing with a few injuries–most notably to Noah Hall, Roman Kimball and Eli Jerzembeck–South Carolina was one of the better pitching staffs in the SEC.
The Gamecocks finished second in the league in team ERA (4.19) and fifth in strikeouts (608). Of those, 185 were struck out looking, second-most in the league behind LSU.
South Carolina allowed the third-fewest runs (284), second-fewest earned runs (252) and only walked 205 batters this season. Only Tennessee walked fewer this year (177).
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While Hall only made seven starts and Sanders took a step back, the Gamecocks got career years from both Jack Mahoney and James Hicks. Both were coming off Tommy John surgery.
Chris Veach also turned into one of the better closers in the league with a 3.46 ERA and a .174 batting average against.
Parker, working with a cupboard that Meade helped stock, had a good chunk of success in 2023. But he is now heading to another SEC school and leaves the Gamecocks with a hole to fill on staff.
South Carolina was paying Parker $206,000 annually over the life of his contract. That is one of the lower marks in the SEC. A search will commence for the next pitching coach. South Carolina likely needs to make the hire relatively quickly. The portal and high school recruiting is full swing now heading into the summer months.
South Carolina has three portal pitcher commitments currently: Charleston’s Ty Good, Liberty’s Garrett Gainey and Virginia Tech’s Tyler Dean.
The Gamecocks are coming off a strong 2023 season that saw the program’s first 40-win year and top 16 seed since 2016. South Carolina also made it to a Super Regional for the first time since 2018, a span of four tournaments.
