Baseball Hosts Milwaukee In Three-Game Set

FOR STARTERS

• South Carolina continues its five-game homestand with a three-game set against Milwaukee.
• The Gamecocks and Panthers start the series on Friday afternoon (Feb. 21) with a 4 p.m. start.
• The two teams continue the series Saturday afternoon (Feb. 22) at 2 p.m. and conclude on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 23) at 1:30 p.m..
• All three games will be streamed on SEC Network Plus with Dave Weinstein and Grayson Greiner on the call.
• All the games also will be on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott, Cade Crenshaw and Stuart Lake on the call.

PARKING INFORMATION

BUSINESS LOTS DURING AFTERNOON GAMES Business lot parking passes will be honored in Lot 1 ONLY for the Feb. 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. 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: 1 p.m.

Business Lots Open: 12/12:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 12 p.m.

Sunday
Game Time: 1:30 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 12:30 p.m.

Business Lots Open: 11:30 a.m./12 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 11:30 a.m.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Friday
South Carolina Dylan Eskew (R-Sr. RHP) 0-0, 1.80 ERA, 5.0 IP, 0 BB, 9 SO
Milwaukee Gavin Theis (R-Jr. RHP) 1-0, 3.38 ERA, 5.1 IP, 1 BB, 3 SO

Saturday
South Carolina Matthew Becker (Sr. LHP) 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 0 BB, 9 SO
Milwaukee Logan Schulfer (Sr. RHP) 0-1, 13.50 ERA, 4.0 IP, 2 BB, 4 SO

Sunday
South Carolina Jake McCoy (So. LHP) 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 1 BB, 9 SO
Milwaukee Mike Sullivan (R-Sr. RHP) 0-0, 4.50 ERA, 4.0 IP, 4 BB, 3 SO

SCOUTING MILWAUKEE

• The Panthers opened the season with a three-game set at Mercer, taking Friday’s game by a 6-3 count.
• Charlie Marion went 2-for-3 with three RBI while Camden Kuhnke had two hits and two RBI.
• John Hadley and Kuhnke lead the Panthers with a .429 average.
• On the mound, Gavin Theis earned the win on Friday, allowing just three hits and two runs in 5.1 innings of work.
• Matthew Mueller had six strikeouts in 3.2 innings to earn the save on Friday against the Bears.
• Shaun Wegner is in his season season as the head coach at Milwaukee. He had been an assistant at UWM since the 2018 season.

SERIES VS. MILWAUKEE

• Carolina and Milwaukee will meet on the diamond for the first time in school history this weekend.
• Carolina is 4-1 against teams from the Horizon League, all coming against Wright State.
• The Gamecocks took 2-of-3 games from the Raiders in the 2017 season.

PITCHING STANDS OUT IN OPENING SERIES

• The South Carolina pitching staff was stellar in the opening series vs. Sacred Heart.
• The staff as a whole struck out 45 batters while walking just four. The 45 strikeouts are tied with LSU for second place in the SEC just behind Florida’s 47.
• Carolina held Sacred Heart to just nine hits in three games, including one (an infield single) in Saturday’s and two in Sunday’s victory.
• All three starting pitchers (Dylan Eskew, Matthew Becker and Jake McCoy) struck out nine batters in five innings.
• McCoy did not allow a hit while Becker allowed just one.
• Parker Marlatt was big in Friday’s win, coming in a jam and allowing just one inherited run. He struck out five to earn the win in the 5-3 game.
• Ryder Garino, Zach Russell, Ashton Crowther and Brendan Sweeney each made their first-ever appearance as a Gamecock during the weekend.
• Carolina heads into the Milwaukee series with a 1.67 ERA and 64 strikeouts compared to just eight walks.
• The Gamecocks opponents are hitting just .127 on the year.

HALL’S POWER-HOUSE

• Junior Nathan Hall was 4-for-8 with four runs scored, a double and his first career home run in the series against Sacred Heart.
• Hall’s 3-run home run on Sunday gave the Gamecocks a 6-0 lead in the sixth inning.
• Hall kept his hot hitting going in the midweek games against Winthrop (Feb. 18) and Queens (Feb. 19).
• The Lexington, S.C., native had a career high four hits in the Queens win and had a big RBI double in the sixth inning in the 5-3 win over Winthrop.
• Hall leads the Gamecocks and is tied for sixth in the SEC with a .500 batting average to go along with three doubles, a home run and six RBI.

PETRY SHOOTS UP CAREER HOME RUN LIST

• Junior Ethan Petry will enter the Milwaukee series with 45 home runs at Carolina, which ties him for fourth 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 two more home runs to tie Garrett Carter (1985-88) for third place on Carolina’s all-time list.
• Petry had a solo home run to straightaway center field in the season opener against Sacred Heart.
• The junior is hitting .438 with a double, a triple, a home runs and is tied for the team lead with six RBI after five contests.

MAINIERI ERA STARTS IN 2025

• Head Coach Paul Mainieri started his South Carolina tenure on Feb. 14, 2025.
• Mainieri is the 31st head coach in Gamecock history and is starting his 40th season as a head coach.
• Mainieri is the active leader in head coaching wins with 1,510.
• 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 40-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.
• Mainieri moved to sixth place on the all-time wins list for head coaches after the Winthrop win on Feb. 18, passing Larry Hays (1971-2008), who coached at Texas Tech and Lubbock Christian.
• Mainieri is a two-time SEC Coach of the Year and four-time National Coach of the Year.

UP NEXT

• Carolina wraps up its five-game homestand on Tuesday night (Feb. 25) against Gardner-Webb.
• The Gamecocks and Runnin’ Bulldogs will start at 6:30 p.m., at Ray Tanner Field at Founders Park.
• The game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.