2026 South Carolina Baseball Preview

Paul Mainieri knows that nobody was happy with last year’s results on the baseball diamond, but the Hall of Fame and National Championship coach has seen tough times before, and he’s determined to have a different outcome this spring.

“It was very frustrating, and I felt bad for a lot of the kids on the team last year because we had some really wonderful young men,” Mainieri said of last year’s 28-29 record. “I was hired to get the program back on track and make it a national contender. This is my fifth and last job, and I know the first year is always difficult. Some players don’t adjust to a new coaching style, and we needed to upgrade the talent level.

“Last year, I didn’t think we had a really bad team. I couldn’t believe the quality of the arms in our league. That told me two things. Number one, I’ve got to find guys who can hit those hard throwers. Number two, we better find some hard throwers. A lot of our guys were upper eighties to low nineties last year. The hitters in our league are older and stronger now from what they were three or four years ago. It’s hard to get those guys out with finesse pitching, especially in the late innings. You have more guys who are staying in school now with the portal and with compensation that they can receive (NIL).

“I think we’ve addressed everything we needed to address. Depending on which poll you look at, we had the third, fourth, or eighth best transfer portal class in the country. We have some good players back from last year’s team.”

While the Gamecocks return only 10 players, several of them are high impact guys such as sophomores Beau Hollins (.308, 6 HR, 24 RBI) at first base and (pictured top of page) KJ Scobey (.257, 8 HR, 27 RBI), who will move from third to shortstop this year, as well as junior lefthanded pitcher Jake McCoy (77 strikeouts in 60 innings) and fifth-year senior catcher Talmadge LeCroy, who missed most of the season last year with injuries.

“Scobey put on a clinic at shortstop this fall,” Mainieri said. “He has played as well as any shortstop I can remember. Beau Hollins has put on twenty pounds, and I think he will hit with more authority with more extra base hits. Talmadge LeCroy is going to be a leader for our team. He led our team in hitting in the fall by a wide margin. He was a tough out, and he caught well.”

In addition to a trio of freshmen, the Gamecocks brought in two dozen transfers from the portal or junior college additions that give the team a veteran presence who can make a difference in the lineup right away.

“I’d like to think that our pitching staff is the most improved aspect of our team in the sense that, coming out of the fall, I feel like we have six guys who can be in our starting rotation. Eventually, two of those guys will go to the bullpen, and I think we already have some good arms coming out of the bullpen. You can’t win in this league without outstanding pitching.

“Jake McCoy started 14 games for us last year, and then last summer he went and pitched in Cape Cod (League), and he was dominant. Amp Phillips (Jr. transfer) pitched really well against Clemson last year for USC Upstate in the NCAA Regional. He’s a bulldog. We have Riley Goodman (RS Fr.) who had to sit out all of last year after he had Tommy John surgery. He’s got really good stuff. Bradley Hodges (Jr.) transferred in from Virginia, and he isn’t an overpowering lefty, but he throws hard enough. He’s a three or four pitch mix guy. Alex Philpott (Jr.) transferred from Florida, and he might have the best stuff of any of the guys. He hits 96, 97 miles per hour and has four really good pitches. Josh Gunther (Jr.) is a transfer from Wake Forest who is in that mix as well.”

Returning juniors Brandon Stone (2-7, 6.50) and Parker Marlatt (1-0, 2 SV, 4.18 ERA) also have experience and should be factors in the bullpen. Mainieri also noted that sophomore Cooper Parks has made impressive strides from last year and is throwing in the mid to upper 90s, and senior transfer Cullen Horowicz from Samford is also a power arm with a good slider. Junior transfer Josh Gregoire (Louisiana Monroe) could be in the mix for the closing role.

With All-American slugger Ethan Petry now playing professional baseball, the Gamecocks look to have more run-producers in the lineup this year. Junior transfer Tyler Bak from Wofford stood out in centerfield and as a table-setter at the plate. Senior transfer outfielders Ethan Lizama from Western Kentucky and Luke Yuhasz from Louisiana-Lafayette impressed in the fall as well. In addition to returners Scobey and Hollins in the infield, junior third baseman Dawson Harman, who was the junior college player of the year in the state of Florida at the College of Central Florida, brings a powerful bat, and he came on strong at the end of the fall. The everyday second baseman and designated hitter is more up in the air heading into the spring practice.

“There should be more power in our lineup, but we didn’t necessarily display it this fall, which I’m hoping is because our pitching was so good,” Mainieri said. “Guys like Patrick Evans (Jr., Inf., Florence-Darlington Tech), Logan Sutter (Sr., Inf., Purdue), Caleb Hoover (So., Inf/OF, Grayson JC), Aaron Jamison (Jr., OF, Fort Scott CC), and Erik Parker (So., Inf., Florida) are players that all came in highly touted that are still very much in the mix to do something. Jack Reynolds (Jr., Inf., Golf Coast State JC) missed the whole fall, and Reese Moore (Jr., C, Iowa) and Gavin Braland (So., C) missed the whole fall. I feel like I have a pretty good grip on our lineup, but nothing is etched in stone yet.

“Jake Randolph (Sr., C, Presbyterian) caught a lot in the fall, and he really improved. By the end of the fall, he gained my confidence. He gives quality at bats.”

As the 2026 season approaches, Mainieri is determined to get the program back on track.

“I hope our fans believe that we can have a really good baseball program at South Carolina again, because I believe that we can,” Mainieri said. “I’ve been through this before. The coaching staff worked so hard to bring in a great class. If we play like I think we are capable, I don’t see any reason why we can’t be right back in the thick of the hunt with the other teams in this league, but we have to earn that. We have to be in the NCAA Tournament, and we want to play them here at Founders Park.”

South Carolina Baseball opens the 2026 season at home February 13-15 with a three game series against Nothern Kentucky.