Reviewing the busy offseason that was for South Carolina baseball

It’s been a long, busy offseason for South Carolina. But in just a few weeks, a brand-new season will begin.

With Opening Day only 38 days away, a new era will begin in Gamecock baseball. After going through plenty of change, the most in some time, the program will have a new leader as well as many old and new faces roaming the dugout and field.

As college baseball season approaches, let’s take a look into how the offseason went for the team.

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Changing of the guard

Less than 24 hours after a season-ending loss in the Raleigh Regional of the NCAA Tournament, now-former head coach Mark Kingston was fired after seven seasons at South Carolina. The move came at a time where the Gamecocks completed a 37-25 season with another year of failing to reach the College World Series.

In the days after Kingston’s firing, many names were brought up as potential candidates to fill the vacancy. South Carolina could’ve stayed in-house and promoted Monte Lee. It also had the option to explore outside candidates with success at other schools.

A little over a week after the search began, the program had found its next coach. Paul Mainieri, an experienced coach with a track record spanning nearly 40 years, officially became the Gamecocks’ new leader on June 11, 2024.

Some initially questioned the hiring as Mainieri, who turned 67 years old in August, was too old to be coaching. After all, he had been out of the game for the last four seasons. But right from the start of his introductory press conference, Mainieri made it clear he was eager to get back into coaching and help South Carolina reach Omaha.

Along with Mainieri came an almost entirely new coaching staff. Terry Rooney, who coached with Mainieri at LSU, was brought in as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. John Hendry, another new assistant coach on staff, came from Virginia, where he was the director of player development for three seasons.

The only assistant to stick around from the previous staff was Lee, who was now the associate head coach and hitting coach for the Gamecocks. Lee, a fan favorite amongst players and fans, is now the highest-paid assistant coach in college baseball.

Player retention

With the coaching staff in place, Mainieri now had to work to put together a roster for the 2025 season. When that process initially began, he wanted to start by identifying “really good baseball players, regardless of position.” He looked at the 2024 roster, the last from Kingston’s tenure, and anticipated about 20 players or so returning.

Players who are returning: RHP Roman Kimball, INF Talmadge LeCroy, OF Blake Jackson, OF Kennedy Jones, OF Evan Stone, INF Will Tippett, RHP Dylan Eskew, RHP Eli Jerzembeck, OF/INF Ethan Petry, C Ryan Bakes, LHP Jake McCoy, INF Jordan Carrion, LHP Matthew Becker, RHP Eddie Copper, RHP Tyler Pitzer, RHP Parker Marlatt, RHP Tyler Dean

The biggest name who made it clear he was coming back, being the first to show his support for his new coach on social media, was star slugger Ethan Petry. Going into his third season at South Carolina, Petry will have a lot of eyes on him as he could decide to turn pro and enter the MLB Draft later this summer. But for the immediate future, he’s back with the goal of chasing after a championship.

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Losses along the way

With all who decided to return, there were bound to be some who decided not to come back, as well. Whether it was through the MLB Draft or entering the transfer portal, there were surely a few losses.

Cole Messina was by far the biggest loss of the players who left. A two-year starter at catcher for the Gamecocks, Messina was drafted 77th overall to the Colorado Rockies and elected to turn pro. This left South Carolina in a flux where it would be losing not only its starting backstop but also its backup with Dalton Reeves out of eligibility.

Weekend starting pitcher Eli Jones was also taken in the draft by the Minnesota Twins in the seventh round. Other than that, the Gamecocks lost out on two high school signees, PJ Morlando and Carson Messina, as well as JUCO commit Brandon Clarke, to the draft.

After the draft, RHP Chris Veach was the lone Gamecock to sign an undrafted free agent deal. Veach signed with the New York Yankees.

A handful of players from the 2024 team left to look for a new opportunity at other schools: INF Lee Ellis (Ohio State), LHP Jackson Phipps (Jacksonville State), INF Carson Hornung (Jacksonville State), INF Tyler Zedalis (Old Dominion), RHP Austin Williamson (Jacksonville State), RHP Drake Quinn, INF/OF Tristan Salinas (North Greenville), LHP Jevarra Martin (Georgia Southern), RHP Connor McCreery (Texas).

With the 2025 roster moving down to 40 players, some cuts took place in the fall. Reese Marcum, Joey Wittig, Max McClellan, Kemper Nix, Brady Jones, Xavier Pelzer, players who all appeared on the fall roster, are no longer on the current 2025 roster, which now features 39 players.

Bringing in a handful of new faces

With only so many players back from last year’s team, an overhaul of bringing in fresh talent was needed. Of course, there’s the 2024 high school recruiting class, but a lot of players will join the Gamecocks as transfers and former JUCO products.

Transfers: OF Dalton Mashore, LHP Wyatt Evans, LHP Ashton Crowther, OF Nathan Hall, LHP Jarvis Evans, INF Henry Kaczmar, INF Nolan Nawrocki, C Max Kaufer

JUCOs: INF Cayden Gaskin, INF/OF Jase Woita, RHP Brandon Stone, LHP Jackson Soucie, LHP Aydin Palmer

Freshmen: INF KJ Scobey, INF Beau Hollins, C Gavin Braland, RHP Ryder Garino, RHP Riley Goodman, OF Tyler June, RHP Zach Russell, RHP Cooper Parks

[USC-Auburn MBB: Win two tickets]

The fall

South Carolina began fall scrimmages on Sept. 30 and went at it nearly every day for the next five weeks. In between the numerous inter-squad games every week, the Gamecocks played two games against outside competition.

First, South Carolina hosted Air Force, a school where Mainieri coached at from 1989-94, at Founders Park on Oct. 26. In a scrimmage that went 14 innings and more than five hours, the Gamecocks rolled to an 18-3 win over the Falcons. This was the first unofficial win of the Mainieri era in Columbia.

To close out the fall, the Gamecocks traveled to the Lowcountry to face Charleston on Nov. 7. After trailing 5-3 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cougars broke out to score seven runs and then added two more in the seventh to take a 12-5 lead.

But South Carolina showed some fight and nearly made a great comeback, scoring six runs over the final two innings. However, the team came up one run short in a 12-11 loss to former head coach Chad Holbrook and his squad.

Unlike years past, there wasn’t a traditional Garnet and Black World Series played in the fall.

Wrapping up the offseason

As the new year begins, so will the unofficial start of the 2025 baseball season. South Carolina will have its first official day of practice on Jan. 24. After that, there should be a handful of scrimmages to come, leading right into the first game of the regular season.

The Gamecocks will open the season at Founders Park against Sacred Heart on Feb. 14 for Opening Day. First pitch is at 4 p.m.

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