South Carolina baseball fired Mark Kingston on Monday, and on Tuesday, interim head coach (and head coaching candidate) Monte Lee teased on social media that the Gamecocks had already landed a big-time commitment since Kingston's dismissal.
I’ve been corrected. 95! https://t.co/bTjGOlipDS
— Monte Lee (@CoachMonteLee) June 5, 2024
Kingston's message that a big-time, in-state pitcher in the class of 2025 was committing to the Gamecocks excited the fanbase a bit, and that excited grew even more when he had to amend his original post, saying that the pitcher already was throwing 95 miles per hour.
No hints about who the player was followed Lee's tease on Tuesday, though.
On Wednesday morning, news came out that the mystery pledge was from North Myrtle Beach right-handed pitcher Luke Roupe. Roupe is flipping from a previous commitment he made to the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Roupe is a big-bodied righty (listed at 6'5" and 205 pounds) who has a good three-pitch mix (fastball, breaking ball, and change-up) and a high ceiling as a prospect. Touching the mid-90s and consistently throwing in the low-90s as a high school junior means Roupe has a special arm, and with another year of high school to go, he could be throwing even harder by the time he gets to Columbia. If he keeps developing his other pitches, Roupe could be a factor even as a freshman.
Roupe has better mechanics than most other high school pitchers, and his smooth 3/4 release provides a little extra natural movement to his pitches while taking some stress off of his shoulder.
He also plays on the corner infield for North Myrtle Beach and has some decent pop from the right side of the plage, but his future likely is as a pitcher at the college level.
Roupe is the 9th in-state pledge to the South Carolina baseball program in the '25 cycle and the 5th in-state pitching commitment.