We are 3 weeks into the 2025 college baseball season. That brings about a mix of emotions and thoughts. For starters… How is March already? It also brings with it the excitement and anticipation of the annual rivalry weekend between Clemson and South Carolina, which was this week. But, at this point, we have seen enough of each of our teams to where we can start to assess where they stand as the season inches closer to the start of conference play.
So, let’s start with the South Carolina Gamecocks.
After going 1-2 in Raleigh in the NCAA regionals last year, having been eliminated by James Madison on that Sunday, Mark Kingston was relieved of duty the next day – a move that almost every insider in Columbia said would happen if the Gamecocks failed to make it to a super regional. From there, much speculation occurred as to who would take over the reins. The hire was one that for some did not make sense.
Ray Tanner’s final hire as the athletic director in Columbia was Paul Mainieri – a legend of the sport, no doubt, as one of the winningest head coaches in college baseball history. He won a national championship with LSU back in 2009 – just 2 years after replacing Smoke Laval as their head coach. He won 641 games in his 14 year tenure with the Tigers and compiled a 75-44 overall record in NCAA tournament games. In short, his credentials speak for themselves. Paul has a track record of winning. But, he had one thing going against him – he had not coached a game since the 2021 season – predating the NIL and transfer portal. He retired at the end of that year, and to state the obvious, the game has changed immensely since then.
The looming question entering the 2025 season, aside from who would fill the shoes of Cole Messina, whether or not Ethan Petry would stay, and if they could retain enough talent to build around him was whether or not Paul Mainieri could adjust to today’s transfer portal and NIL-driven wild west landscape in college sports as a nearly 70-year old.
Some of those questions were answered rather quickly. South Carolina did manage to retain Petry, Talmadge LeCroy, Evan Stone, Will Tippett, and Kennedy Jones as well as some key arms in Dylan Eskew, Eli Jerzembeck (who was touted to be the Friday night starter during the offseason but was injured and would end up out for this year), Matthew Becker, Tyler Pitzer, and Parker Marlatt.
South Carolina was expected to be strong pitching wise this season, but the biggest areas of improvement that last season made evident were defense and plate approach. The Gamecocks committed 64 errors in 2024 and batted .274 as a team. While that team batting average looks good, most of their offense came via the long ball (101 HRs in 2024). They had just 106 extra base hits that were not home runs out of 559 total hits as a team. That all suffices to say that the Gamecocks had a habit of swinging for the fences and not playing “ABC baseball” when facing good pitching.
Through the first 3 weeks of the 2025 season, in which the Gamecocks have compiled a 9-3 record, they have committed just 8 errors – an improvement particularly as far as infield defense goes. At the plate, the approach has had a noticeable change. Mainieri’s approach has been more of an emphasis on playing small ball, but maintaining aggressiveness, particularly on the first pitch when it is hittable. That paid off through the first 9 games. But, once again, the obvious can’t be ignored. Prior to this weekend, the Gamecocks had not faced any ranked opponents yet – a stark contrast to their bitter rival in Erik Bakich’s rival Clemson Tigers – meaning none of that came against any decent pitching.
Pitching has been South Carolina’s strong suit, much to the surprise of many. While again, the competition has not exactly been stiff, the Gamecocks rotation, which consists of Dylan Eskew, Jake McCoy, and Matthew Becker, has (combined with midweek starters and the bullpen) a 3.18 ERA.
Obviously in facing Clemson, the expectation should have reflected reality. South Carolina has not been battle-tested; Clemson has. Clemson has the best pitching the Gamecocks have faced all season to this point (and even scarier – still isn’t close to the best they will face going forward. Best to hope for was going to be to not get swept. Especially facing Aidan Knaak and Ethan Darden back to back. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Game one of the series, a trend emerged. Missed opportunities. South Carolina was a few feet away – maybe more like inches – away from tying the game on back to back chances in the top of the 9th. Clemson went on to get the 5-3 win with some help from a little late offensive surge. Game 2, the Gamecocks had the bases loaded with nobody out and failed to score in the bottom of the 6th, and later grounded into an inning-ending double play in the 8th with 2 on after an error.
Sunday’s game saw the Gamecocks’ hitting continue to be cold. They were held scoreless up until the bottom of the 8th inning, which they entered trailing 4-0, and after getting a pair of runners aboard, mustered just 2 runs thanks to a baserunning blunder in which Jase Wiota was forced out at 2nd and immediately went into the fetal position in front of the bag, interfering with the throw to 2nd on what would be a double play. Clemson once again responded with a 4 spot in the top of the 9th. Story of the weekend – South Carolina failed to respond, resulting in the third time they have been swept by the Tigers in the last 4 years.
In essence, not much can be said of the direction for the Gamecocks in year one under Paul Mainieri, no matter what your expectations may have been right now. Being swept stinks, but that was always a possibility coming into the weekend. It is hard if you are a Carolina fan to give credit or admit that Clemson is better, but they were. The injury bug also made its presence known this weekend with an unknown shoulder injury to Kennedy Jones and a broken thumb on Talmadge LeCroy. What matters most now for South Carolina is responding to getting their teeth knocked in 3 times this weekend and focusing on getting clutch hits from more than just Ethan Petry and Jase Woita. Until that happens, any decent pitching faced will be a struggle.
Now for the other end of the rivalry..
Clemson saw their 2024 campaign in which they compiled a 44-16 overall record, come to an end in the super regionals with a sweep at the hands of the Florida Gators. The Tigers did not have half as many questions coming into 2025 having returned star outfielder Cam Cannarella, ace Aidan Knaak, another key piece in the rotation in Ethan Darden, infielders Andrew Ciufo and Jarren Purify, etc.
The biggest issue from last year was their bullpen, which may still ring true in 2025. Clemson has plenty of depth on the bump this year with the likes of the meme himself – Drew Titsworth, Dorman alum and lefty Hudson Lee, Jacob McGovern, 2nd-year Wofford transfer Lucas Mahlstedt, etc. But, whether or not that depth will translate to the ability to hold close games late remains to be seen.
The Tigers could not have passed a much tougher test than they started the season with, having opened at Globe Life Field (the Texas Rangers’ ballpark) in a multi-team event. Clemson slugged their way to wins over Oklahoma State (6-5), Arizona (16-5 – with a double digit showing in the first inning), and took their first loss to Ole Miss via run rule 15-5 in 7 innings. Erik Bakich’s squad has gone 5-0 since ahead of this weekend’s Palmetto State showdown. They entered the weekend hitting around .300 as a team, slugging over .400, and averaging just over 9 runs per game.
The rivalry series went as expected for the Tigers. Aidan Knaak was every bit as advertised on Friday. He went just 4 and two thirds innings, but struck out 9 Carolina hitters, walking 4 and surrendering just 3 earned runs on 4 hits. It was Lucas Mahlstedt that in the end salted it away with 3 shutout innings, although the last 2 outs in the 9th went about as far as they could go without leaving the yard for a game-tying bomb. On the offensive end, the Tigers got a clutch 2 run homer with 2 out in the bottom of the 7th from Jarren Purify that was the difference in the game, giving the Tigers the 5-3 lead they held the rest of the way.
Saturday, runs were once again at a premium for much of the game. Ethan Darden was efficient, taking a shutout through 7 innings. He threw 89 pitches and gave up just three hits and struck out 6 with two walks issued in the win. Drew Titsworth continued the solid day on the bump with 2 innings in relief. He had the lone blemish – a solo homer over the Green Monster from Ethan Petry in the bottom of the 8th. Offensively, Clemson was ahead just 2-1 after Petry’s blast, but responded nicely with a 3 spot – an RBI single from Jacob Jarrell, a Bisetta RBI sac fly, and a double from Purify. South Carolina got a double from Max Kaufer, but was unable to try and make a comeback in the bottom of the frame, which confirmed the storyline of missed opportunities – not just of the day but for the whole series – on their end.
Sunday, Justin LaGuernic and Joe Allen continued to frustrate the Gamecock bats, combining for 7 shutout innings. The duo struck out 6 batters each (that’s 12 total through 7 innings if you’re doing the math.. Not a recipe for winning games if you are South Carolina) while walking 2 and giving up just 2 hits. Carolina cut it to a 2 run game in the 8th, but the story of the weekend for the Tigers (and the most truthful of coach cliches) played out. They answered runs with runs– and in big time clutch situations at that. Cam Cannarella ripped a 2 run single with 2 out and the bases loaded as part of a 4 spot that helped the Tigers secure the series sweep with an 8-2 win.
In short, things are looking just fine for Clemson. This weekend didn’t tell us a whole lot that we did not already know – about both teams, really. But, it definitely gave confirmation that Clemson is every bit as good as advertised. But, will the depth they have this year help them get over the super regional hump? We have a long way to go to find out.
Last, but not at all least..
USC Upstate and South Carolina share some similarities in regards to question marks from the offseason. Following their 2nd straight loss in the Big South Conference tournament championship game, Mike McGuire resigned to take the head coaching job at in-conference rival Winthrop. It was clear who his successor would be as a short time later, assistant head coach Kane Sweeney was promoted.
McGuire took star outfielder Koby Kropf with him to Rock Hill along with righty reliever Juilan Parson. Upstate also graduated infielders Easton Cullison, Grant Sherrod, and Troy Hamilton, Catcher David Pereira, outfielder Daniel Gernon, ace Henry Proger, and Jagger Jefferis. Several other key members of the 2024 squad including Mathieu Curtis, Kyle Henington, Trent Hodgdon, Noah Sullivan, Jace Rinehart, and Jake Cubbler all transferred or left the program.
In short, the roster turnover was immense for the Spartans ahead of this season. There was also some concern about staff turnover. But, Coach Sweeney was able to retain Jacob Condra-Bogan as his pitching coach and assistant head coach while adding Daniel Gernon as director of player development and Easton Cullison as a grad assistant. On the roster side of things, third baseman Jake Armsey, Catcher Tyler Lang, utility/outfielder Ryan Fluharty, middle infielder Vance Sheahan, 1st baseman (and younger brother of coach) Johnny Sweeney, long reliever Brade Consaul, ace Cooper Ellingworth, and reliever Darin Kuskie all opted to stay in Spartanburg, giving a wealth of returning experience to the 2025 roster.
Upstate still has a ton of newcomers, many of which will have a chance to make an impact right away.
Through the first weeks of the season, the Spartans are off to a 6-4 start, having split their opening series with Boston College, dropped back to back games to Western Carolina and Bowling Green, rebounded with a three game win streak between LeMoyne, Bowling Green, and Western Carolina, dropped their opener to UMass Lowell this weekend, and came back to win the series with an offensive explosion (24 runs in game 2, 12 runs in game 3 with nearly 60 hits on the weekend as a whole) over the last 2 games.
In essence, the one thing that stands out early on in Kane Sweeney’s first season is that the Spartans’ identity is still centered on scoring runs in bunches, aggressive base running, and the occasional power surge. That is not shocking since Sweeney was the architect behind building that identity as the assistant under McGuire.
The other thing that stands out as a “needs to get better” is the pitching. Through 10 games, the staff ERA is at nearly a six point (5.96) with 17 home runs given up, 20 doubles, and 53 earned runs out of 69 total runs surrendered. That number is only going to get skewed by some of the teams the Spartans have coming up on the schedule. They face Clemson Tuesday night, Troy next weekend, Wofford (three times spread out over the next month), NC State, South Carolina, and CofC. But, even against “like teams”, the pitching has been an issue, which has put more strain on the offense to produce. If this trend continues and they have a cold streak like they did in April of last season, Upstate may see another disappointing end in the conference tournament.
All the same, even if that does happen, for this team to be younger and under a young first-year head coach, that would be an acceptable result for the Spartans this season. Luckily, there is still plenty of time for the pitching to find its groove with conference play 2 weeks out and it only being the first week of March.
Related
