Paul Mainieri assesses overhaul of South Carolina baseball roster

South Carolina coach Paul Mainieri knew there was plenty of work to be done to the makeup of the roster after the Gamecocks limped to the end of the regular season and set a program record for losses.

That work began even as USC was preparing to play in the SEC Tournament, when teams could scout players who were seniors but still had eligibility remaining or were at a school where the coach was leaving.

The result is basically a completely overhauled roster that will be set at 34 players in 2026. South Carolina does have three players who are “designated student athletes” who won’t count toward the 34-man limit.

“It’s been a hard-working summer, that’s for sure,” Mainieri told reporters Wednesday at Founders Park. “The staff hasn’t been around much. I know for me personally, I’ve probably put 100,000 miles on airplanes.

“We’ve worked really hard putting this new roster together. We came out of the draft about as well as we possibly could. We feel very fortunate and have some good players lined up. I feel like we’ll be significantly better in some ways, particularly on the pitching staff.”

South Carolina lost 19 players to the transfer portal, eight ran out of eligibility and three — Ethan Petry, Nathan Hall and senior Matthew Becker — were drafted in the recent MLB Draft. Position players who decided to transfer include starters in designated hitter Jase Woita (Missouri) and shortstop Henry Kaczmar (Ohio State).

The pitching staff, which lost 11 players to the portal, had a program-worst ERA in 2025. The most notable departures include Ashton Crowther (19 appearances, 2-2, 4.38 ERA), Jackson Soucie (14 appearances, 3-1, 5.40 ERA), Ryder Garino (16 appearances, 2-0, 5.84 ERA) and Brandon Sweeney (23 appearances, 1-3, 8.53 ERA). Jarvis Evans (4-2, 5.89 ERA) made nine starts, mostly in the midweek, and decided to transfer as well.

Out of the 19 players who left, Mainieri admitted that less than a handful were ones the staff was hoping to keep.

“There were only a couple of players that it was their choice and I was a little disappointed,” Mainieri said. “Most of them were by mutual agreement.”

The Gamecocks have 10 players returning from last season. Those include starters in infielders Beau Hollins (.308 average) and KJ Scobey (.257). Starting pitchers Brandon Stone (2-7, 6.50 ERA) and Jake McCoy (4-5, 6.90 ERA) elected to return along with bullpen pitchers Parker Marlatt (25 appearances, 1-0, 4.18 ERA) and Zach Russell (19 appearances, 2-1, 5.40).

One wildcard is the return of catcher Talmadge LeCroy for a fifth season. LeCroy played in only 17 games in 2025 before suffering a season-ending hip injury. If the Belton-Honea Path product had played in one more game last season, he would not have been eligible to return.

Scobey started at third base but will likely slide over to shortstop, a position he played this summer with Team USA.

Mainieri and the coaching staff had to dip into the transfer portal to find additional arms who have great command and throw in the mid-90s and also some find position players — outfielders in particular — who can come in and contribute right away.

“We loaded up on some very good arms, hard throwers and some very established college pitchers that went into the portal,” Mainieri said.

They’ve added 16 newcomers from the transfer portal — eight pitchers and eight position players. There will not be a starter returning in the outfield, and that is an area of concern for Mainieri. The Gamecocks have the fifth-best transfer portal class, according to 64analytics.com.

Wofford transfer Tyler Bak and junior college transfer Aaron Jamison will get long looks in centerfield, with the other three additions being corner outfielders with some pop in their bat.

South Carolina dipped into the junior college ranks to sign six players. There will be 17 pitchers and 17 position players on next year’s roster.

“This is the world we live in now. Kids are bouncing from school to school,” Mainieri said.

The Gamecocks will only have three incoming freshmen this season after catcher Noah Franklin and pitcher Luke Roupe were taken in the MLB Draft. That leaves left-handed pitcher/utility player Brandon Cromer (Lexington HS), infielder Will Craddock (TL Hanna) and left-handed pitcher Patrick Dudley (Virginia Beach, Va.) as the remaining freshmen class. Cromer will redshirt after having Tommy John surgery this summer.

Mainieri and the staff already have 13 high school commitments from the Class of 2026.

Schedule note

Mainieri said the Gamecocks will have two scrimmages this fall. The first one will be at home against Charlotte on Nov. 2. The other will be Nov. 6 at the College of Charleston.

The 2026 season will begin on Friday Feb. 13. Mainieri said contracts have not been signed, but there has been discussion with Northern Kentucky to be the opening weekend opponent.

Transfer portal additions (16)

• Pitcher Hudson Lee (Clemson)
• Pitcher Josh Gregoire (Louisiana-Monroe)
• Pitcher Amp Phillips (USC-Upstate)
• Pitcher Elijah Foster (Sacred Heart)
• Pitcher Josh Gunther (Wake Forest)
• Pitcher Bradley Hodges (Virginia)
• Pitcher Alex Philpott (Florida)
• Pitcher Alex Valentin (Texas State)
• Catcher Reese Moore (Iowa)
• Infielder Logan Sutter (Purdue)
• Infielder Cullen Horowicz (Samford)
• Infielder Erik Parker (Georgia)
• Outfielder Tyler Bak (Wofford)
• Outfielder Ethan Lizama (Western Kentucky)
• Outfielder Luke Yuhasz (Louisiana)
• Utility player Jake Randolph (Presbyterian)

Incoming Junior College Transfers (6)

• Pitcher Logan Prisco (Florence Darlington Tech)
• Infielder Patrick Evans (Florence Darlington Tech)
• Infielder Dawson Harman (College of Central Florida)
• Infielder Jack Reynolds (Gulf Coast State)
• Utility player Caleb Hoover (Grayson College)
• Utility player Aaron Jamison (Fort Scott CC)

Returners (10)

• Infielder Beau Hollins
• Infielder KJ Scobey
• Catcher Talmadge LeCroy
• Catcher Gavin Braland
• Pitcher Brandon Stone
• Pitcher Jake McCoy
• Pitcher Parker Marlatt
• Pitcher Zach Russell
• Pitcher Cooper Parks
• Pitcher Riley Goodman

Freshmen (3)

• Infielder Will Craddock
• Pitcher Patrick Dudley
• Pitcher/utility Brandon Cromer (will redshirt)

Transfer portal losses (19)

listed with new colleges

• Pitcher Wyatt Evans (North Greenville)
• Pitcher Roman Kimball (UCF)
• Pitcher Eddie Copper
• Pitcher Tyler Pitzer
• Pitcher Eli Jerzembeck
• Pitcher Jackson Soucie
• Pitcher Jarvis Evans Jr.
• Pitcher Ashton Crowther (Alabama)
• Pitcher Aydin Palmer (Francis Marion)
• Pitcher Ryder Garino (NC State)
• Pitcher Brandon Sweeney (Mississippi State)
• Catcher Ryan Bakes
• Catcher Max Kaufer
• Infielder Cayden Gaskin
• Infielder Will Tippett (College of Charleston)
• Infielder/outfielder Jase Woita (Missouri)
• Infielder Nolan Nawrocki (Tulane)
• Infielder Henry Kaczmar (Ohio State)
• Outfielder Tyler June (Florida Southwestern)

This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM.