Rock Hill, S.C. – Coming off winning all three games at home in the season-opener with Merrimack, Winthrop welcomes the Gamecocks of the University of South Carolina to Founders Field for a huge in-state rivalry matchup Tuesday afternoon.
STARTING PITCHING ROTATIONS
Jarvis Evans (3-2, 5.49 in 2024 at the University of Georgia) |
Lance Wade (0-0, 0.00 ERA in 2025)
A LOOK AT SOUTH CAROLINA
- This is the 35th meeting between the Eagles and the Gamecocks
- South Carolina leads the overall series, 27-7 and has won the last 12 games between the two teams
- South Carolina won both contests from the Eagles last season in 2024, 12-2 in Columbia on Feb. 20 and 15-3 in Rock Hill on May 7
- Winthrop's last win in the series was on Mar. 17, 2015 in Columbia by a score of 7-5
- The Eagles last defeated the Gamecocks at home on Feb. 11, 1996 with a 4-3 decision
- The Gamecocks are coming off a three-game sweep over Sacred Heart over the weekend
- South Carolina went 37-25 (13-17 SEC) last season, falling in the NCAA Regionals in Raleigh, N.C. on the campus of NC State
- Junior Ethan Petry will enter the 2025 season having been named to the preseason All-America second team by both D1 Baseball and Perfect Game, the third team by the NCBWA, was named to the Preseason All-SEC first team and is on the Golden Spikes Award Watch List
- Last season, Petry hit .306 with 21 home runs and 53 RBI while leading the team with 51 walks. He was named to the All-Raleigh Regional team
- Head Coach Paul Mainieri is in his first season at South Carolina
- Mainieri is the 31st head coach in Gamecock history and is starting his 40th season as a head coach
- Mainieri is the active leader in head coaching wins with 1,508
- Mainieri most recently was the head coach at LSU for 15 seasons, guiding the Tigers to a national championship in 2009, a runner-up finish in 2017 and five CWS appearances
- In 11 of 14 full seasons at LSU, Mainieri led the Tigers to at least one team championship
- In his 39-year career, Mainieri has made six College World Series appearances (5 with LSU, 1 with Notre Dame), four SEC championships, six SEC Tournament championships and 10 NCAA Regional championships
- With a win against Winthrop, Mainieri will move to sixth place on the all-time wins list for head coaches
- Mainieri is a two-time SEC Coach of the Year and four-time National Coach of the Year
LAST TIME OUT
- Winthrop registered a 3-0 series sweep of Merrimack at home last weekend to open both the 2025 season and the Mike McGuire era
- Winthrop swept a doubleheader Friday afternoon at the newly renamed Founders Field, routing the visitors 16-4 in the first game and then posting an 8-0 shutout in the second game
- With the victory, Winthrop moved to 28-17 all-time in season openers
- This was the first time since 2021 Winthrop opened the season with a doubleheader and only the 7th time overall
- Winthrop then swept the series with Merrimack Sunday afternoon by a final score of 8-3
A LOOK BACK AT 2024
- The Eagles finished the 2024 season with a 19-29-1 (8-15 Big South) record
- Hernandez and Sarna were both named to the Big South All-Freshman Team
- The Sacramento Athletics in the 13th round selected Riley Huge in the MLB Draft
- Overall, Huge marks the 37th Eagle in history to be selected in the MLB Draft
- This was the second straight year that a Winthrop baseball player was drafted
- Winthrop also earned the Team Academic Excellence Award from the ABCA for the fifth consecutive year
- Winthrop finished last season having recorded the most strikeouts in nine inning games in a single season in program history (9.60 over 413.1 IP)
- Winthrop also finished last season sixth in a single season in program history with 440 strikeouts
- Against Davidson on Apr. 16, 2024, Winthrop set a new team single-game record for most times hit by pitch with seven
- In a minimum of 500 chances, Chronis is currently tied for fourth in school history with a .989 fielding percentage
- He also finished last season tied for fifth in school history in most times hit by pitch in a single season with 12
- Chronis led the team in putouts last season with 275 and total chances with 306
- He was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. Chronis started in 33 of 44 games played, batting in a season-high two runs vs. Radford on May 5
- Joey Hylinski led the team in lowest ERA last season with 2.35
WINTHROP AT A GLANCE IN 2025
- Winthrop enters 2025 predicted to finish sixth in the Big South Conference
- In his first season at the helm of the program is Mike McGuire
- McGuire is just the fourth head coach in program history
- His career record is 480-356-1 in 16 years as a head coach
- McGuire returns to the Winthrop baseball program after serving as head coach at USC Upstate the last five seasons. This marks McGuire's third stint with the Eagle program as he spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach from 1997-2002 and again in 2006-11
- The Eagles also welcome back 13 players, 11 of them starters and 27 newcomers, all either freshman or transfers
- The program has a record of 1,384-1,000-7 entering their 45th season dating back to 1980
- Winthrop is 873-397-4 all-time at home
- Winthrop is 483-366 all-time in conference play, the winningest record in conference history
- Winthrop is 28-17 all-time in season openers
- Kropf and Sarna were voted to the Big South Conference Preseason All-Conference Team
- Kropf was selected as part of D1Baseball's Top 100 Outfielders entering the 2025 season, slotting Kropf as the 26-best in the country
- Kropf started all 60 games for conference rival USC Upstate in 2024, and became just the third player in Big South history with 20 doubles (21) and 20 home runs (20) in a season. He hit .352 overall with 20 homers, 67 runs batted in, a .704 slugging clip, 81 hits and 56 runs scored. Kropf also drew 29 walks and five hit-by-pitch and finished with a .431 on-base percentage. Kropf recorded a career-high five hits versus Presbyterian on April 27, collected a career-high five RBI versus Queens on April 16, and recorded 25 multi-hit and 19 multi-RBI games a season ago
- In Big South contests, Kropf batted .363 with eight home runs, 28 RBI, a .714 slugging average and .463 on-base clip
- Last season at USC Upstate, he earned Second-Team All-Big South honors and was a back-to-back Player of the Week honoree (April 22 and April 29)
- Kropf was named the 2025 Big South Preseason Baseball Player of the Year Kropf is the first Winthrop baseball player to earn Preseason Player of the Year honors since 2007 and the third time overall
- Sarna is coming off a freshman campaign in which he was named to the 2024 Big South Conference All-Freshman Team. He finished 9th in the Big South in overall pitching with an ERA of 4.74. His most notable performances last season were pitching a season-high 6.0 innings vs. Longwood on Mar. 17 and a season-high six strikeouts vs. Maine on Mar. 3
- Sarna ended 2024 having pitched 49.1 innings with a record of 4-4 in 13 games played. He was 2nd on the team in ERA and wins with four. He started nine games, striking out 38 batters, which was good for 4th on the team
- Wilson was named to the initial Watch List for the 20th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball
- Wilson is one of the key relievers to return for the Eagles in 2024. Wilson started in nearly all the 49 games that the Eagles played last season. He started in 45 of 47 games he played in and pitched three games in relief, the only Winthrop offensive player on the season to do so. Wilson pitched a season-high 4.0 innings with 10 strikeouts and one walk at Queens (2/27) and offensively had a season-high five RBI's vs. USC Upstate (4/6). Wilson will also play infield as well
- Wilson was also recognized by D1 Baseball as the #3 top prospect in the Big South Conference
- He tied for the team lead in walks last season with 44
- Hernandez had a terrific freshman season with the Eagles in 2024. He finished tied for 7th in the Big South in doubles with a team-leading 15 doubles; starting in all 45 games he played in, finishing the season with 157 at-bats. He was also tied for the team lead in games started and home runs with seven and led the team in RBI's with 30 and walks with 19. He was named the Big South Freshman of the Week on May 6, which was the first weekly award of his career. A versatile player, Hernandez will DH, play first base and play in the outfield in 2025
2025 SEASON HONORS
- Koby Kropf – Redshirt senior – Outfielder
- 2025 Big South Preseason Player of the Year/Preseason All-Conference Team
- Owen Sarna – Sophomore – Pitcher
- 2025 Big South Preseason All-Conference Team
- Koby Kropf – Redshirt senior – Outfielder
- 2025 D1Baseball's Top 100 Outfielders
- Koby Kropf – Redshirt senior – Outfielder
- 2025 DIBaseball's Big South Preseason Player of the Year
- Harrison Wilson – Junior – Infielder/pitcher
- 2025 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award Initial Watch List And The #3 Pro Prospect By The Big South Conference
WATCH THE EAGLES ON ESPN+
Of the 33 home games this season, 22 of them will air live on ESPN+. You can also catch most of the road games in Big South Conference play on ESPN+. To watch Big South games on ESPN+ you must have a subscription to ESPN+. For more information on how to subscribe,
click here.
WHERE TO SHOP
Find all your needs for Winthrop gear–
ShopWinthropeagles.com |
ShopWinthropGear.com |
BSNTeamSports.com
LOOKING AHEAD
Winthrop welcomes Villanova to Founders Field for a three-game series beginning Friday, Feb. 21 at 3:00 p.m. This series will wrap up a seven-game homestand to start the 2025 season. The Sunday game against the Wildcats will be shown on ESPN+.
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