By Sinderella
Coming off a disappointing 2024 season where we saw the Mark Kingston era end with a loss to James Madison in Regional play, the new-look Gamecocks hope to bounce back. This time, they are led by the legendary Paul Mainieri, who was hired in June of last year.
Mainieri has a tall task ahead of him though. The SEC Coaches' poll placed South Carolina at 14 out of the 16 SEC teams. South Carolina brings back only 14 players from last year's team with many playing important roles. Mainieri understands the challenge he is faced with and still believes this team can compete with anyone in the country.
If this team is going to outperform the preseason talk, I believe they will have to pitch much better than what most think when they look at this staff. There is more depth this season, but they are lacking proven high-end SEC talent. Hopefully some pitchers will emerge like Garrett Gainey and Ty Good did last year. The preseason scrimmages in the fall and winter haven't been the best performances from the arms of South Carolina, but there have been a few bright spots, especially recently.
After an up and down year for all three pitchers, the weekend rotation versus Sacred Heart will be:
Friday: Dylan Eskew (3-5 4.60)
Saturday: Matthew Becker (5-3 6.60)
Sunday: Jake McCoy (1-0 7.88)
Obviously, its not the weekend rotation everyone thought we would see, but these have been the best starting caliber pitchers during the preseason. We will see if guys like Eli Jerzembeck, Brandon Stone, and others can work their way into the rotation down the road.
Turning to the bullpen, some key bullpen pitchers that we should see a lot of are Roman Kimball, Tyler Pitzer, Brendan Sweeney, Jarvis Evans, Zach Russell, Caleb Jones, and others. Many of these bullpen pitchers will be in the hunt for midweek starts as well, so look for one or two of these pitchers to pull double duty. If I had to say who the closer would be, I would feel pretty confident it will come from the group of Sweeney, Pitzer, Jones, and Russell.
The bats for South Carolina Gamecocks gives them the ability to compete with any team on any weekend. Led by one of the best players in the country in Ethan Petry, the Gamecocks will look different offensively than they have the past seven seasons.
Long gone are the days of living and breathing by long balls. This team will continue to hit homeruns, and a lot of them, as Kennedy Jones is looking better than ever as Petry's running mate leading into this season. Along with this new dynamic duo, is a lot of athlectism and high quality defensive players led by transfers Henry Kaczmar (Ohio State), Nathan Hall (Clemson), Dalton Mashore (Saint Mary's), and Nolan Nawrocki (Clemson). The lone freshman that has earned a starting postion will be at 3rd base, where highly touted true-freshman KJ Scobey won the job.
The big question is how will South Carolina replace All-American Catcher Cole Messina? Messina was the best catcher in the country with elite offensive and defensive ability. It will be next to impossible to replace his production and clutch factor (see the 2024 SEC tournament and Regionals) for one player to do. Last year's 3rd baseman Talmadge LeCroy, will move back to his original position and get the call as the team's starting catcher. Many around the program have praised LeCroy's preseason play and have noticed he has had a mental shift that has led to him playing his best ball of his career. It would have been easy for him to get caught up in the negativity after last season, but he has seized the opportunity to be a leader for this 2025 squad, both on and off the field.
If I had to predict what the starting lineup and position breakdown will look like on opening day I would go with:
CF Nathan Hall
SS Henry Kaczmer
1B Ethan Petry
DH Kennedy Jones
C Talmadge LeCroy
RF Dalton Mashore
2B Nathan Nawrocki
3B KJ Scobey
LF Blake Jackson
Overall, this team has more questions than answers at the moment. They have the ceiling to go as far as they want, and the floor to potentially miss postseason play. The pitching has to find multiple guys to step up and be consistent. The position players have to have the ability to move guys over, score runs, and play the great defense that Paul Mainieri teams are known for. Check back everyday this week for more South Carolina opening week content!
(All pictures courtesy of @GamecockBasebll on X)
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