USC baseball transfer portal roundup: Who’s in, who’s out for Gamecocks?
Kevin Schnall and the South Carolina baseball coaching staff have had a busy month working the transfer portal.
As of Monday morning, the Gamecocks had added 19 transfer commitments since the portal window opened on June 1. On the other hand, South Carolina has lost 24 players to the portal.
The transfer portal closes June 30. All players must enter the portal by that date but can commit to a school at any time, meaning the stream of portal commitments won’t end soon for Schnall and the Gamecocks.
Here’s the roundup of South Carolina’s latest transfer portal activity.
Who’s in?
These are the 19 transfers who have announced their commitment to South Carolina as of Monday morning:
- LHP Hayden Johnson (Coastal Carolina)
- LHP Colby Richardson (Coastal Carolina)
- RHP Daniel Parker (Coastal Carolina)
- C Brice Estep (Coastal Carolina)
- INF Walker Mitchell (Coastal Carolina)
- 1B/LHP Jackson Winer (Coastal Carolina)
- RHP Luke Jones (Coastal Carolina)
- OF Evan Bottone (Marshall)
- RHP Max Bianchini (USC Upstate)
- LHP Dominick Carbone (Coastal Carolina)
- RHP Tyler Pitzer (Mississippi State)
- C Andrew Costello (Wake Forest)
- INF JD Stein (Wake Forest)
- RHP Jordan Stephens (Georgia)
- LHP Ryan Brennecke (Wake Forest)
- OF/1B Luke Costello (Wake Forest)
- RHP Carter Harrington (College of Charleston)
- RHP Miguel Hugas (Mercer)
- RHP Andrew Koshy (Maryland)
As expected, some of Coastal Carolina’s best players followed Schnall from Conway to Columbia.
Schnall was announced as South Carolina’s next head coach on the morning of June 10. By that evening, he had already gained commitments from seven former Chanticleers.
In total, eight ex-Coastal players will be wearing garnet and black next year. Among those projected to have the most impact are infielder Walker Mitchell and pitchers Dominick Carbone and Luke Jones. Mitchell, a Gamecock legacy, is coming off a year when he hit .313. Jones was second on the team with a 4.44 ERA and 67 strikeouts. Carbone had a 2.36 ERA in 2025 and was a Preseason All-American in 2026 but missed the season with an injury.
Schnall also landed a wave of commitments from Wake Forest transfers in the past week. Those players are likely following new USC hitting coach Bill Cilento. Schnall hired Cilento away from Wake after 17 years with the program.
The biggest additions from the great Wake Forest to South Carolina Transfer Pipeline of 2026 (trademark pending) are projected to be JD Stein and Luke Costello.
Stein hit .266 last year and could start right away at shortstop for the Gamecocks. Costello (who followed his younger brother, Andrew) was an All-ACC selection in 2026 after hitting .302 with 17 homers.
More portal targets for USC
Various reports from Gamecock Central/The Big Spur and Gamecock247 indicate South Carolina is in the running for prospects like Texas Tech’s Connor Shouse, Louisiana Tech’s Casey McCoy and South Florida’s Ethan Sutton.
Shouse is ranked No. 1 in the transfer portal by 64 Analytics and No. 7 by D1Baseball. The utility player earned an All-Big 12 First Team selection in 2026 after he hit .353 with 10 home runs and 66 RBIs. Shouse also made 11 appearances on the mound and tallied three saves. He recorded 16 strikeouts in 15.1 innings of work and had a 5.87 ERA. The Jasper, Georgia native started his career in 2025 at Georgia Tech.
McCoy is coming off a 2026 Conference USA All-Freshman Team nod. McCoy started all but two of the 53 games he played in for the Bulldogs. The Prairieville, Louisiana native hit .281, had an OPS of .782, totaled 28 RBI and hit five homers.
Sutton was a stalwart out of the bullpen last season for South Florida. He led the team with nine saves and 20 appearances and finished with a 4.31 ERA in 48 innings of work. Sutton was named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List in April for his efforts. Sutton previously played at Georgia.
Who’s out?
Here are the 24 Gamecocks who, as of Monday morning, are looking for, or have already found, a new home in the transfer portal.
- RHP Josh Gunther (Georgia Tech)
- INF Dawson Harman (Miami)
- LHP Alex Valentin (Arizona State)
- LHP Patrick Dudley (Old Dominion)
- C Gavin Braland (Gardner Webb)
- INF KJ Scobey (Texas Tech)
- INF Beau Hollins
- RHP Riley Goodman
- LHP Hudson Lee
- RHP Zach Russell (Mississippi State)
- INF Will Craddock (Mississippi State)
- LHP Logan Prisco (Texas A&M)
- RHP Josh Gregoire (Louisiana Tech)
- RHP Brandon Stone
- 1B/OF Caleb Hoover (Nebraska)
- RHP Elijah Foster (Austin Peay)
- UTIL Reese Moore (Nebraska)
- LHP Jake McCoy (Tennessee)
- INF Jack Reynolds (Louisiana Tech)
- OF Aaron Jamison (Austin Peay)
- INF Erik Parker
- RHP Connor Chicoli
- LHP Bryce Navarre (Lamar)
- RHP Alex Philpott
Arguably the biggest losses of this bunch are infielders Will Craddock and KJ Scobey.
Craddock, an Anderson native, made 51 starts for South Carolina in his freshman year and was projected to have a high ceiling with the Gamecocks. Craddock was second on the team with a .260 batting average and 10 home runs. He also had a .479 slugging percentage in 2026. He’s leaving for Mississippi State.
Scobey started in each of the 113 games he played in during his two seasons at South Carolina. He leaves the Gamecocks with a career .254 batting average, 105 hits, .438 slugging percentage and 17 home runs. Scobey, who’s heading to Texas Tech, did struggle some in the field in 2026. He led the team in errors (15) and left USC with 22 total to his name.
Other notable portal defectors are Beau Hollins, Brandon Stone and Jake McCoy.
A reminder: just because a player has entered the portal doesn’t mean they can’t return to their school. So there’s a chance a few of the players listed as being in the portal return to South Carolina next year. That being said, there’s an equal chance none of the players listed above withdraw from the portal and return to USC.
This story was originally published June 29, 2026 at 1:23 PM.
