Electric player from west coast commits to South Carolina baseball

As new South Carolina baseball coach Paul Mainieri and his staff look toward 2025, the new leaders of the Gamecock program are already retooling the roster.

The 2024 YardCocks weren't good enough in several areas (most notably, pitching depth, defense, baserunning, and situational hitting), and Mainieri and company have been working to alleviate those deficiencies.

Several days ago, Carolina received a commitment from dynamic utilityman and potential leadoff hitter Cayden Gaskins (Northwest Florida State College). He arrived in junior college as a shortstop has also played in the outfield and was the primary second baseman for NWFSC this year.

On Saturday, USC picked up another major transfer portal commitment as St. Mary's centerfielder Dalton Mashore pledged his services to Coach Mainieri and the Gamecocks. TheBigSpur's John Whittle was the first to report Mashore's commitment to the South Carolina baseball program.

As a player, Mashore can do it all. He is a good defender in the outfield, he can run (logged 11 steals and 4 triples), has great bat control (posted a .338 batting average), and has pop from the right side of the plate (totaled 34 extra-base hits, including 13 home runs). He finished the year with an OPS over 1.060, a number that was better than every Gamecock not named Ethan Petry or Cole Messina.

Mashore was an All-WCC performer in 2024 as he led the Gaels to becoming the best offense in the West Coast Conference and to their most wins since 2019. He finished in the top-6 in the league in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, runs scored, hits, doubles, triples, and home runs.

He will enter next year as a real candidate to start in the outfield, most likely in center. He also could be a candidate to bat near the top of the lineup. The Gamecocks are losing contributors Austin Brinling and Dylan Brewer from the outfield, and Kennedy Jones has had his name floated in MLB Draft discussions, as well.

Mashore will have one more year of eligibility with the South Carolina baseball team.