Brendan Sweeney brings 'Bulldog' mentality to mound as South Carolina's closer

Just weeks into his South Carolina baseball career, pitcher Brendan Sweeney was given a nickname by head coach Paul Mainieri: “The Bulldog.”

“It really just started in practice a couple weeks ago,” Sweeney said. “He realized I wore No. 55, and one of his favorite pitchers to watch was Orel Hershiser. So, he gave it to me, as well.”

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Sweeney admitted that he’s okay with Mainieri calling him whatever he wants “as long as he puts me out there on that mound.” But there’s no denying that, through his first two games in garnet and black, Sweeney’s bulldog-like traits have been on full display when he emerges from the bullpen.

Sweeney took the road less traveled to eventually make his way to South Carolina. He spent his freshman year at Eastern Oklahoma State College, which competes in collegiate athletics as a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). That season, he pitched to a 4-3 record and amassed 40 strikeouts across 16 appearances, including seven starts.

He then plied his trade at another junior college, Blinn College, one year later. Sweeney, with an 8-2 record in tow, helped the Buccaneers win the NJCAA national championship in 2024.

In an alternate universe, however, there is a possibility that Sweeney may have never pitched at Blinn College. Terry Rooney, South Carolina’s pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, held a similar role at LSU before joining the Gamecocks during the most recent offseason. The Tigers had the opportunity to recruit Sweeney, but Rooney elected not to. The reason? Sweeney did not throw enough strikeouts, Mainieri said.

But from what Mainieri saw, Sweeney may have yielded low strikeout rates not because he didn’t possess the stuff to put away batters, but because his longer outings clashed with his most effective pitching style.

“When you’re a junior college pitcher, and you’re starting, and you’re throwing seven innings in a game, and you’re really a two-pitch guy, it’s hard to strike out a lot of batters when you go through the lineup three times,” Mainieri said. “But for one inning, or two innings? You can live on two pitches.”

Mainieri ultimately decided to move Sweeney to the bullpen not solely because of his pitch arsenal, though. He also had the makeup of South Carolina’s entire pitching rotation in mind.

Mainieri began his search for the Gamecocks’ next closer during the team’s fall preseason scrimmages. But two potential candidates for the role, Eddie Copper and Parker Marlatt, could not pitch due to injuries.

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Because of this, Matthew Becker became the frontrunner for the job. Mainieri continued looking for an alternative to that plan so he could maximize Becker’s productivity.

“I was hoping we could find somebody so I could move Matthew Becker into the rotation. Otherwise, he’d be the guy closing games at the end,” Mainieri said. “I just think Matthew Becker is so valuable with his experience and everything that, the more innings we can get out of him, the better. So, I was hoping, by trying Brendan in that role, that he would excel at it.”

For Sweeney, who has been a starter for most of his collegiate career, coming out of the bullpen has led to some adjustments to his routine.

“(I’m) just getting used to that aspect of always being ready to get your name called, not on that seven-day routine where you go, ‘I’ve got one day to go shove it out there,'” Sweeney said. “I just get to do it multiple times a week now.”

Both moves – Becker as a starter, and Sweeney as the closer – have proven to work for South Carolina so far.

Becker started the second game of the Gamecocks’ season-opening series against Sacred Heart. He threw five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out nine batters in the process.

Sweeney, meanwhile, has made two appearances on the mound this season. The first came on Opening Day, and the other came in a midweek clash against Winthrop. In both contests, Sweeney pitched scoreless ninth innings to clinch a pair of saves.

Mainieri provided a succinct, four-word indication of Sweeney’s performance for South Carolina in 2025: “So far, so good.” But Mainieri hinted that another enhancement to Sweeney’s game may soon be on the way.

“Since he’s been here, we’ve actually been working with him on a third pitch. So, he may be more than just a one-inning guy,” Mainieri said. “If you have two-plus pitches, including an overpowering fastball, I think you can close games at the end.”

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