How this ‘innings eater’ joined South Carolina after months in transfer portal
On April 30, Jaret Bennett tweeted out the news — he would be joining South Carolina baseball as a graduate transfer after spending four years at Charleston Southern.
In the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Bennett’s announcement seemed like a rapid move made at a time when he wouldn’t even have been able to visit Founders Park and see the facilities. In reality, it was months in the making.
“I entered the (transfer) portal actually in August 2019, because I got hurt my freshman year. So I had a fifth year already. So I had already planned to grad transfer prior to the coronavirus,” Bennett told The State.
Usually, entering the portal is considered a sure sign a player is on his way out in the near future. For Bennett, though, it was part of a long-term plan. He had talked it over with his coaches at Charleston Southern and wanted to pursue a masters of business administration after he graduated, so the idea was to put his name on other schools’ radars, play one final season with Buccaneers and then move on.
South Carolina offered an MBA program that Bennett liked, and he already had a baseball connection — Gamecocks assistant Stuart Lake had recruited him to Charleston Southern when he was the head coach there. Bennett’s freshman year in 2016 marked Lake’s final year at CSU before he left for Columbia.
“Him and I maintained a good relationship, spoke whenever we went up there on the midweeks. He would reach out to me if I had a good outing, et cetera,” Bennett said. “And I never held anything against him for taking the job at South Carolina by any means, and nobody really did. And I just reached out to him (when I entered the transfer portal). Obviously, I was interested in playing at South Carolina, but I also wanted to use him as a resource, just trying to feel out where he was connected to, to possibly be interested in transferring to.”
Just before Christmas, Bennett took a visit to South Carolina. He and pitching coach Skylar Meade developed a relationship as well, and he threw a session for him in the spring that went well.
By March, Bennett said, he knew he would join the Gamecocks for the 2021 season, but he decided to keep it quiet.
At the same time, the left-hander was putting together a career year for Charleston Southern. After posting a 3-9 record and 6.18 ERA over his first three years, Bennett took over as the Bucs’ Friday night starter and was 2-0 with a 0.71 ERA in four starts, including a complete game and a .147 batting average against.
Then, of course, the season was abruptly canceled in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, Bennett has split time between his parents’ home in Maryland and his place in Charleston. And when he was formally accepted into South Carolina’s MBA program, he felt ready to publicly announce his move.
Speaking with Meade, Lake and head coach Mark Kingston, Bennett said they all envision his role for the Gamecocks as a simple one.
“They see me, and I view me, and this is what I portrayed myself as to coach Meade, as an innings eater, no matter what the role is, whether it be in relief, when the starter gets run out early and I come in in a long relief role. Or in a starting role, no matter what day it would be,” Bennett said. “Just an innings eater that can come in and turn the lineup over a couple times and get the ball to the next guy.”
And as a Gamecock, Bennett said he’s looking forward to being on USC fans’ good side. While he never got the opportunity to take the mound against Carolina, he was on the bench for several games with CSU and saw firsthand the intensity.
“I mean it was almost like a major league game, where the fans are all into it, they’re really diehard for Carolina and they’re yelling at me. They learned quickly that I’m usually the first guy out of the dugout, especially because I wasn’t playing. So I was the first guy out to give high fives, throw the ball to the first baseman, whatever it is, and they did some quick research and found out some family member names, and it was a good time,” Bennett said.
“I mean they were heckling me and I wasn’t even pitching. And I thought it was awesome. I thought it was so funny. They were great, and that kind of atmosphere is something that I didn’t really get at CSU, and I thought that would be incredible to play in, and for them to be cheering for you instead of yelling at you.”
