No preseason rankings, no problem: Mainieri says Gamecock baseball has to earn respect
South Carolina is entering a new era of baseball in Paul Mainieri’s first year as head coach.
Mainieri inherits a program that went 37-25 last season and was eliminated in the NCAA Tournament regional in Raleigh last year.
When the Gamecocks take the field against Sacred Heart for their season opener on Feb. 14, they’ll do so as an unranked team. It’s the first time since 2022 that South Carolina is without a preseason ranking, but Mainieri doesn’t seem too concerned about it.
“There’s not a lot of respect for our team out there in the preseason polls,” he said during last week’s baseball media day. “That’s OK, though. We have to earn that respect.”
South Carolina, made up of 16 returners, 15 transfers and eight true freshmen this year, is one of the 10 teams that just missed the cut of Baseball America’s preseason Top 25. The Gamecocks have “plenty to prove” and need an “uptick” in production on offense and defense in order to reach the Top 25, according to Jacob Rudner of Baseball America. Eight SEC teams are ranked in D1Baseball’s Preseason Top 25.
Mainieri said he’s told this year’s South Carolina team the story of one of his early LSU squads to show that preseason rankings only mean so much.
LSU finished 29-26-1 during Mainieri’s first year in 2007. Coming into the 2008 season. the Tigers were unranked. That’s the last time any of his teams were unranked in the preseason, the coach said.
“We struggled through that first season, but then we went out, recruited great, put together a team,” Mainieri said. “And I told that team way back in August, before we ever hit the field, that 2008 is going to be the last year that anybody ever takes LSU baseball lightly again, which was a rather bold prediction coming off a 29-26 first year.”
His prediction, though bold, was near clairvoyant. LSU was picked No. 5 in the SEC West poll that year, Maineri said, but still managed to go on and win the division, the SEC and make an appearance at the College World Series in Omaha. Mainieri won a national championship the following year with the Tigers and made 10 more trips to the NCAA Tournament during his time with LSU.
Mainieri is hoping to bring some of that success to Columbia and take South Carolina back to Omaha for the first time since 2012.
“I’m not promising you all of those championships this year, but I know we’re a lot better than people think we are out there in the preseason,” Mainieri said. “But it’s OK. We have to earn the respect. We have to focus just on what we believe in: ourselves. I think we’re going to have a solid lineup. I think we’re going to have a pretty deep pitching staff.”
The lack of preseason love for the Gamecocks is just more fuel to the players’ motivational fire.
“I think there’s a chip on our shoulder,” junior Ethan Petry said. “Should be like that every season. I think we’re going to be very underestimated and we’re going to surprise a lot of people this year. So I’m really excited to see what this team can do.”
“That’s just another thing that fires us up,” senior Kennedy Jones said. “I mean, nothing wrong with being the underdog. Just makes you work harder.”
The one negative to being unranked in the preseason though is fan perception, according to Maineri. He said he hopes Gamecock faithful aren’t “down in the dumps” about the preseason polls and don’t let it influence how they feel about the team this year.
“I’m pleading with our fan base to believe in these kids like I do,” Mainieri said. “And to believe that they can come out to Ray Tanner Field at Founders Park and really enjoy themselves and watch a really good team scratch and claw and battle every day.
“How many times did I bring an LSU team here? I don’t remember seeing an empty seat in the stands ever coming here, and we need to get that back. We need to get the fans engaged and proud of our team. It makes a difference. It inspires our players, it intimidates the other team a little bit and it’s just more fun.”
Mainieri is hoping to channel what Shane Beamer and the South Carolina football team were able to in 2024: Turn in one of the better years in program history despite getting little preseason love.
“If I’m not mistaken, I don’t think our football team was ranked in the preseason,” Mainieri said. “…They didn’t have such a bad year, did they?”
USC baseball early schedule
- Feb. 14 vs. Sacred Heart, 4 p.m.
- Feb. 15 vs. Sacred Heart, 2 p.m.
- Feb. 16 vs. Sacred Heart, Noon
- Feb. 18 at Winthrop, 4 p.m.
- Feb. 19 vs. Queens, 4 p.m.
- Feb. 21 vs. Milwaukee, 4 p.m.
- Feb. 22 vs. Milwaukee, 2 p.m.
- Feb. 23 vs. Milwaukee, 1:30 p.m.
This story was originally published January 31, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
