More All-American honors come in for South Carolina baseball star

The college baseball season will end in the next couple of days as two SEC programs play for the National Championship. The Tennessee Volunteers and Texas A&M Aggies are the last two teams standing. In contrast, the South Carolina baseball team ended their season nearly three weeks ago in a loss in the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament and fired head coach Mark Kingston.

Leading up to the final days of the 2024 campaign, the best player for the Gamecocks was catcher Cole Messina.

The 2023 All-American backstop was having a good year for the garnet and black, but a blazing hot finish made it a great season as he finished with a ridiculous slash line of .326/.465/.701/1.166 and 21 home runs, 19 doubles, 64 runs scored, and 71 RBI. As one of the top defensive catchers in the sport, posting an offensive season like that earned him a number of postseason accolades.

On Friday, Messina was selected to his fourth All-American team. Baseball America, like Perfect Game, the National College Baseball Writers Association, and the American Baseball Coaches Association before them, picked Cole Messina as a 2nd team All-American. The NCBWA, ABCA, and Baseball America slotted Messina in as the 2nd team catcher, while Perfect Game picked him at designated hitter.

Next month, Cole Messina will have a big decision to make as he is expected to be a high pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. Messina has been mocked as high as the 1st round and has received the most projections in the 2nd round.

If he is not picked early enough to warrant leaving school, Messina has one more year of eligibility he can spend wearing garnet and black. His younger brother Carson, a right-handed pitcher, also will have a draft vs. school decision to make as he could jump straight from Summerville High School to the professional ranks if picked high enough.