Former Gamecock Landon Powell reflects on playing days, state of the program
Landon Powell has lived the good times of South Carolina’s baseball program.
So, it pains the former Gamecock catcher to see the program struggle the last few years, especially this season. South Carolina is 28-28 in Paul Mainieri’s first season, going into this week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament.
South Carolina faces Florida in the first round of the single-elimination tournament on Tuesday. One more loss will give the Gamecocks the most losses in program history, and they will miss the postseason for the second time in the past four seasons.
“I believe in the program and coaches and I believe they can turn it around and will be cheering for them every step of the way. I hope they can get it figured out here soon,” Powell said Monday during a press conference before getting enshrined into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. “... I have confidence in coach Mainieri. He is a hall of famer for a reason. I’m sure they will get it turned around.”
Those comments are similar to the ones Powell made earlier this month on “Inside The Gamecocks” with Jamie Bradford and Mike Morgan. Powell, the head coach of North Greenville, still follows the Gamecocks closely. He and his wife were watching a game recently and looked at the small crowd in attendance at Founders Parks, something he wasn’t used to seeing during his playing days at USC.
“Sad about the state it is in,” Powell said of USC baseball in his hour-long interview. “There are so many people, players, coaches and fans that took so much pride about that program and building of that program. I was one of the players that helped build it.”
Some fans wanted to see Powell get a shot to be USC’s next coach when Mark Kingston was fired after last season, but the Gamecocks went with Mainieri, who was retired but won a national championship at LSU.
Powell has had success at Division II North Greenville, winning a national title in 2022. The Trailblazers went 45-15 this season before losing over the weekend in the Division II Southeast Regional. Powell has won more than 400 games at NGU and been to six straight Division II tournaments during his 11 years there.
As a player, Powell was an integral part during former coach Ray Tanner’s early years in 2001-04. Those teams set the foundation of what was to come a few years later when the Gamecocks won back-to-back College World Series championships 2010-11.
Powell was on Tanner’s first CWS team in 2002 and remembers beating Miami to get to Omaha. The Gamecocks rallied with five runs in the top of the ninth to defeat the defending champion Hurricanes, 6-4, and advance to the program’s first World Series since 1985.
“That inning is one of the coolest innings in South Carolina baseball history,” Powell said.
The Miami game and his final college at-bat against East Carolina — in which he got a standing ovation — are two of the memories stand out for Powell.
Powell, a two-time All-SEC performer, was part of 204 victories at USC and finished his career with 44 home runs and 193 RBIs. He was a first-round draft pick by the Oakland A’s in the 2024 Draft and caught Dallas Braden’s perfect game in 2010.
But it was his time at USC that he was remembering this week. On Monday, Powell and his wife drove past his old dorm, The Roost, and they went by the house where the two met at a party during the first week of his freshman year.
“I loved my playing career at South Carolina and had a great experience. It was the perfect choice for me,” Powell said. “I played with great teammates and played for great coaches and fell in love with this university. I didn’t know a ton about the university when I came here. … When I got here and realized what a perfect fit it was as a school, it fell into place for me.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 5:41 PM.
