Baseball Opens 2025 Campaign vs. Sacred Heart

FOR STARTERS

• South Carolina opens its 133rd season of Gamecock baseball with a three-game home series against Sacred Heart.
• Opening Day is set for Friday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m., at Founders Park and is the opening game of head coach Paul Mainieri’s tenure.
• The Gamecocks and Pioneers then meet on Saturday (Feb. 15) at 2 p.m. and Sunday (Feb. 16) at noon.
• There will be a Ray Tanner Field dedication ceremony prior to Saturday’s game. The first 2,500 fans will receive a Ray Tanner trading card while the first 5,000 will receive a Ray Tanner koozie.
• All three games will be broadcast on SEC Network Plus with Dave Weinstein and Grayson Greiner on the call.
• All three games also will be on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott (Friday and Sunday), Stuart Lake and Cade Crenshaw (Saturday) on the call.

PARKING INFORMATION

BUSINESS LOTS DURING AFTERNOON GAMES Business lot parking passes will be honored in Lot 1 ONLY for the Feb. 14, 19 and 21 afternoon baseball games based on availability. The businesses at 405 (Lot 9) and 401 (Lot 10) Huger Street request that you begin parking at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. Other business lots open at 5 p.m. on weekdays. Parking is allowed in Lot 8 (the Cregger lot) on the Williams St. side for the afternoon early games.

GAME DAY PARKING INFORMATION (including public game day lots (PGDL: $10 per game). All gameday lots are cashless. Please have a debit card or credit card ready for payment upon entry into parking lots.

Weekday 4 p.m. Games (Feb. 14, 19, 21)
Game time: 4 p.m.
Stadium opens: 3:00 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 5/5:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PDGL Open: 2 p.m.

Weekdays
Game Time: 6:30 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 5:30 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 5/5:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 4:30 p.m.

Saturday
Game Time: 2 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 12:30 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 12/12:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 12 p.m.

Sunday
Game Time: 12 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 11 a.m.
Business Lots Open: 10/10:30 a.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 10 a.m.

PROMOTIONS SCHEDULE
Friday – Free rally towels to the first 1,000 fans
Saturday – Field Dedication Ceremony at 1:30 p.m., Ray Tanner Field Koozie to the first 5,000 fans, Ray Tanner Commemorative Card to the first 2,500 fans, Carolina Baseball Pressure Makes Diamonds book to the first 2,000 fans
Sunday – Complimentary tickets to Junior Gamecock Club members

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Friday
South Carolina Dylan Eskew (R-Sr. RHP) 3-5, 4.60 ERA, 62.2 IP, 26 BB, 40 SO
Sacred Heart Joey Trombley (So. RHP) 3-2, 4.28 ERA, 61.0 IP, 25 BB, 39 SO

Saturday
South Carolina Matthew Becker (Sr. LHP) 5-3, 6.60 ERA, 43.2 IP, 18 BB, 60 SO
Sacred Heart Elijah Foster (So. RHP) 5-1, 4.53 ERA, 59.2 IP, 48 BB, 80 SO

Sunday
South Carolina Jake McCoy (So. LHP) 1-0, 7.88 ERA, 16.0 IP, 15 BB, 20 SO
Sacred Heart TBA

SCOUTING SACRED HEART

• The Pioneers are coming off a 2024 season that saw SHU win the NEC regular season title with a 25-8 conference mark. Sacred Heart was 35-23 overall and went 2-2 in the NEC Tournament.
• Tim McGuire returns to the Pioneers lineup after hitting .326 with 12 doubles and 37 RBI in 2024.
• In fact, all three Pioneer position players that hit over .300 last year are back in 2025 (Zack Kovalchik, .326; Alex Ungar .314).
• On the mound, Joey Trombley had three wins and a 4.28 ERA in 13 starts. Elijah Foster struck out 80 batters in 59.2 innings and Owen MacDonnell had a team-best nine saves in 2024.
• Pat Egan is in his third season as head coach at Sacred Heart. He was named the NEC Coach of the Year in 2024 and joined SHU after four years as an assistant at Quinnipiac.

SERIES VS. SACRED HEART

• South Carolina and Sacred Heart will meet for the first time on the diamond this weekend.
• The Gamecocks are a perfect 7-0 against teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Carolina is 3-0 vs. both Niagara and Rider and 1-0 vs. Manhattan.
• Sacred Heart is playing in the MAAC this season after competing in the Northeast Conference since 1999.

SEASON OPENERS

• South Carolina is 91-41 all-time in season openers dating back to 1892.
• Carolina has won the last five season openers.
• The Gamecocks are 23-3 in its last 26 lidlifters and has won 26 straight series to open the season.
• Last year, Carolina defeated Miami (Ohio) 5-1, scoring all five runs in the second inning.
• Eli Jones struck out five batters in six innings to earn the win and Garrett Gainey struck out a batter to pick up the save.

PETRY SHOOTS UP CAREER HOME RUN LIST

• Junior Ethan Petry will enter the 2024 season with 44 home runs at Carolina, which ties him for fifth place on the all-time home run list.
• The Land O’ Lakes, Fla., native had 23 home runs in his freshman season in 2023, then followed that up with 21 his sophomore season.
• Petry has been named to the preseason All-America second team by both D1 Baseball and Perfect Game, the third team by the NCBWA, was named to the Preseason All-SEC first team and is on the Golden Spikes Award Watch LIst.
• Last season, Petry hit .306 with 21 home runs and 53 RBI while leading the team with 51 walks. He was named to the All-Raleigh Regional team.
• Petry needs one more home run to tie Jeff Parnell (1990-93) for fourth place on Carolina’s all-time list.

MAINIERI ERA STARTS IN 2025

• Head Coach Paul Mainieri will start his South Carolina tenure this weekend against Sacred Heart.
• Mainieri is the 31st head coach in Gamecock history and is starting his 40th season as a head coach.
• With the first pitch on Feb. 14, Mainieri will be the active leader in head coaching wins with 1,505.
• Mainieri most recently was the head coach at LSU for 15 seasons, guiding the Tigers to a national championship in 2009, a runner-up finish in 2017 and five CWS appearances.
• In 11 of 14 full seasons at LSU, Mainieri led the Tigers to at least one team championship.
• In his 39-year career, Mainieri has made six College World Series appearances (5 with LSU, 1 with Notre Dame), four SEC championships, six SEC Tournament championships and 10 NCAA Regional championships.
• With four wins this season, Mainieri will move to sixth place on the all-time wins list for head coaches.
• Mainieri is a two-time SEC Coach of the Year and four-time National Coach of the Year.

RAY TANNER FIELD AT FOUNDERS PARK

• Two-time National Championship Baseball Coach and Athletics Director Ray Tanner will have his name on the baseball field at Founders Park during a pre-game ceremony on Feb. 15 before the Sacred Heart game.
• The Gamecock baseball field will now be “Ray Tanner Field.”
• Ray Tanner Field is the first USC athletics competition surface to carry the name of a former coach or student-athlete.
• In 16 seasons as the Gamecock head coach, Tanner compiled a 738-316 (.700) record with six College World Series appearances, winning the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Championships and national runners-up finishes in 2002 and 2012.
• Carolina made 14 NCAA tournament appearances under Tanner, advancing to 10 Super Regionals. USC won three SEC regular season championships (2000, 2002 and 2011), the 2004 SEC Tournament and six SEC East titles (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2011, 2012).
• Under Tanner’s leadership, the Carolina baseball program set an NCAA record for consecutive NCAA Tournament wins (22) and CWS wins (12) between 2010-12, as the Gamecocks became just the sixth and last school to win back-to-back baseball national titles.

UP NEXT

• Carolina will play its first two midweek games of the season, traveling up I-77 to face Winthrop in Rock Hill and hosting Queens University.
• The Gamecocks face Winthrop on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at Winthrop Ballpark. First pitch is at 4 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
• Carolina and Queens face off Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 19) at 4 p.m. The game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.