South Carolina baseball will be returning one of college baseball’s top offenses in 2024. The Gamecocks spent much of the 2023 season near the top of the national leaderboards in home runs and runs scored, and Mark Kingston’s bunch returns 8 out of 12 of its top bats from a season ago.
The pitching situation is one that is far less settled. Five Gamecocks (plus one who was set to transfer into the program) were drafted in the 2023 MLB Draft. Matthew Becker and Chris Veach are returners with experience, but most of the rest of the pitchers on the roster have very limited experience with the Gamecocks, are coming off of injury, or both.
There are several transfer pitchers (Ty Good from Charleston Southern being the most notable) who could contribute in 2024, and Roman Kimball is expected to be a big part of the plan on the mound after missing last season with Tommy John surgery. After that, the Gamecocks will be relying on some new faces.
The newest face of them all announced his commitment to the South Carolina baseball program on Tuesday.
Jackson Soucie of Wabash Valley College made his public pledge to the Gamecocks with a simple message: “Heading south.”
Heading south #Committed #GoCocks pic.twitter.com/iTzDzj8U1R
— Jackson Soucie (@JacksonSoucie34) October 4, 2023
Soucie, a Canada native, helped lead Wabash Valley to a 2nd-place finish at the Junior College World Series. He committed to Oregon this summer, but for reasons that he described with “I hate losing,” he never made his way to Eugene.
A former top recruit, Soucie throws hard from the left side and has a big breaking ball that should play up to SEC competition. Standing at 6’4″ and weighing around 225 pounds, Soucie has a body that should hold up to a starter’s workload if that is what his future holds, but his “stuff” can create enough swings and misses to fit nicely in the bullpen.
Part of the high school class of 2022, Soucie will arrive in Columbia as a sophomore with four years to play his three seasons of eligibility. He was close to being selected in both the 2022 MLB Draft out of high school and the 2023 MLB Draft (JuCo players only have to play one year before being eligible).