South Carolina Baseball: A look back at the 2023 season and a look ahead at 2024

Now that the College World Series has ended and transfer portal activity is winding down, South Carolina baseball fans can officially view the 2023 Gamecock season as over.

The South Carolina baseball team had a good season in 2023. That shouldn’t be disputable. Carolina, for the first time since 2016, crossed the 40-win threshold. The Gamecocks advanced to their first super regional since 2018 and hosted their first regional as a 1-seed since 2016 (Carolina hosted a regional as a 2-seed in 2021 due to Covid restrictions in Virginia).

For the season, the South Carolina baseball team ranked among the national leaders in multiple offensive categories. Gamecock bats knocked more balls over the fence than almost any team in the country, finishing the season in the top-10 nationally in home runs. The YardCocks also excelled at drawing walks (4th nationally), scoring runs (22nd in all of Division-I baseball), and getting on base (28th in the country).

Those numbers were even better for most of the season. Injuries and a late-season slump hurt the Gamecocks’ final totals tremendously.

Second baseman Will McGillis missed almost half the season with a broken arm, Talmadge LeCroy and Braylen Wimmer missed a couple of weeks with hamstring issues, Gavin Casas and Cole Messina each had minor ailments, and Carson Hornung and Will Tippett played injured all season. Expected starter Jacob Compton missed the whole year.

The injury bug didn’t just bite the Carolina offense, however.

The pitching staff started strong, but injuries to the back of Noah Hall (missed half of the season), Will Sanders’ lower body (missed a third of the season), and Eli Jerzembeck’s elbow (missed a third of the season and could miss next year) hurt the Gamecocks the second half of the year.

They were also without top transfer Roman Kimball who was the team’s top starter during parts of fall camp and expected bullpen contributors Ricky Williams and Trey Wheeler for the entire year.

The injuries do not account for all of the late-season troubles Mark Kingston’s club experienced, but they cannot be ignored. Most of the other factors during the slump could be chalked up to the highs and lows of the game of baseball.

After scorching hot starts from Ethan Petry and Gavin Casas, both players scuffled down the stretch of SEC play before turning it back on for the postseason. Players who flashed early in the year like Caleb Denny and Dylan Brewer were not as productive during the team’s slump.

Highs and lows are part of baseball. What was unfortunate for South Carolina was that their low offensively came at the same time as the injuries were piling up across the roster.

To be clear, South Carolina baseball’s play on the field at the end of April and for most of May was horrendous. However, it is unfair to look at it without the proper context.

The Gamecocks bounced back with a dominant regional in front of a raucous Founders Park crowd, and the showing should invigorate the fanbase.

The super regional did not go as Carolina fans had hoped, but the Florida Gator squad that topped the Gamecocks might be the most talented team in the nation, and, oh yeah, in case one forgot, South Carolina swept that same team in April.

If the Gamecocks can fill a few holes through the transfer portal, South Carolina baseball can officially be labeled “back.” (Sorry, Texas football).

Looking ahead to 2024, South Carolina baseball is in the unique position of losing a lot of talent while still returning major amounts of production from last year’s team.

Infielder Michael Braswell (LSU) and reliever Brett Thomas (undecided) have announced their intentions to leave the program through the transfer portal, and a few others (like reliever Trey Wheeler and outfielder Caleb Denny) appear set to quietly leave the team, as well.

Second baseman Will McGillis is out of eligibility and should have been drafted. Pitchers Noah Hall, James Hicks, Jack Mahoney, Will Sanders, and Cade Austin all could return next year but are expected to sign contracts with the organizations that drafted them in the 2023 MLB Draft. The same is likely true for shortstop Braylen Wimmer. Newly acquired (via the transfer portal) pitcher Matt Duffy also is likely going pro after being taken early in the Draft.

Even with all of that potential attrition from the roster, Carolina sits in the enviable position of returning the middle of its lineup. Ethan Petry, Cole Messina, Gavin Casas, and Talmadge LeCroy spent most of this season hitting somewhere between the 3 and 6 spots in the order and were important contributors. All of them are returning in 2024.

The jewel of the Gamecocks’ transfer portal class is outfielder Kennedy Jones. Jones can hit anywhere in the lineup and was one of the best bats in the country while playing at UNC-Greensboro. His 1.000+ career OPS and 60 extra-base hits in two seasons made him one of the top transfer portal players in the country this offseason. He will start somewhere for the Gamecocks, likely in left or center. He could hit leadoff for Carolina next season but second seems like the best spot in the lineup for Jones.

The leadoff spot was a struggle most of the season for the Gamecocks, but Kingston and his staff addressed the need through the portal by bringing in transfer outfielder Austin Brinling to pair with Kennedy Jones. The speedster Brinling hit for an OPS over 1.000 this season for North Florida, a mark that would have made Brinling one of the top producers if he played for South Carolina this season. He also swiped 20 bags, 7 more than the highest Carolina total of 2023. He will compete for a starting outfield spot.

Charlotte transfer Blake Jackson could also factor into the competition at the top of the order. Jackson came on strong for the 49ers at the end of the 2023 season and is a high on-base producer with decent speed in the outfield.

Corner outfielder/corner infielder/designated hitter transfer Tyler Causey (North Carolina) has tremendous power but has battled his hit tool and injuries for most of his career.

Vanderbilt grad transfer Parker Noland comes to Carolina with a lot of experience playing all over the infield. While he doesn’t bring a ton of power to the table, he did hit two grand slams in one game last year and makes consistent contact with the baseball.

Middle infield transfer Zac Morris from VMI is a good defense/speed combination who turned in a good offensive season in the Southern Conference in 2023 as a redshirt junior. He will compete with Will Tippett and others for a starting job up the middle.

If 1B/OF/DH Jacob Compton can bounce back from his injury as a solid bat, and defensive specialists Evan Stone (outfield) and Will Tippett (utility) can develop offensively, Mark Kingston’s team could be a very good offensive unit once again.

The Carolina pitching staff is losing some of its top arms (Hall, Sanders, Hicks, Austin, and Mahoney) but still returns two experienced starters in Eli Jones and lefty Matthew Becker. If Roman Kimball can slide into that rotation after recovering from Tommy John surgery, the Gamecocks rotation can be formidable once again.

Chris Veach is having offseason hip surgery but is poised to return as one of the top bullpen arms on the team, and rising sophomores Connor McCreery and Austin Williamson could be in for big roles. Transfer addition Garrett Gainey will add a needed left-handed arm to a ‘pen that didn’t have much lefty production in 2023.

A bit of a wildcard on the mound is transfer Ty Good (College of Charleston). Good was the Conference Pitcher of the Year in the Colonial Athletic Association and will compete for a spot in the rotation or as a high-leverage reliever.

Virginia Tech transfer reliever Tyler Dean and Marist College defection Drake Quinn could carve out roles in the bullpen, as well.

The deeper portions of the roster will need some reconstructing, both to replace the outgoing talent and also to set up the team better if forced to deal with injuries again. The good news for South Carolina baseball fans is that it appears Mark Kingston and his staff are doing that through the transfer portal.

In 2023, starting catcher Cole Messina was forced to play some at first base and third base when players went out, hurting the pitching staff in the process. The Gamecocks must not allow that to happen again if injuries strike in 2024. Additions like Causey and Noland should provide enough depth on the corners to keep Messina behind the dish.

High school recruiting in baseball is much harder to evaluate than in football and basketball, but the incoming class has several players who are viewed as potential difference-makers in the future. In the age of the transfer portal, it is unclear how many (if any) of them will have an opportunity to contribute in year 1, but as was seen in 2023, depth matters.

All-in-all, the 2024 version of the Gamecocks is still a bit of a mystery, but if the Gamecocks’ offseason moves work out, the South Carolina baseball team should be looking at a real opportunity to log back-to-back 40-win campaigns since 2013 and 2014 (the final years of 15-straight 40-win seasons).

The Gamecocks could roll out a  potential lineup of

Brinling-CF
Jones-LF
Petry-RF
Messina-C
Casas-1B
Compton-DH
LeCroy-3B
Morris-SS
Tippett-2B

with Noland, Causey, Jackson, Brewer, and Hornung serving as offensive depth and Stone as a defensive specialist. That is a good squad even before the freshmen or any further transfer portal additions are considered.

The starting rotation could be

Kimball
Becker
Jones

with Good pushing for a spot. Again, that’s pretty solid without considering any further additions from the freshmen class or transfer portal.

2024 will be a big year for the Gamecocks. Coach Mark Kingston’s seat isn’t hot after a solid 2023, but his 7th season in Columbia must be a good one or the dissenting voices in Columbia will grow louder just as they did after 2022. Another step forward is very possible and will keep Kingston’s job safe and Gamecock fans happy.

Be optimistic for the 2024 season, South Carolina baseball fans. It should be a fun one.