While students enjoyed summer break, South Carolina athletics continued to work hard in their respective sports. Here's everything that's happened since the spring semester ended.
Baseball
Much-needed change came in a big way for the South Carolina baseball team, who will welcome 10 incoming transfer players ahead of next season.
“We felt that we needed to be very aggressive in the portal, and we’ve done that,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “We’re signing some really good guys out of that portal that are going to really help us.”
Among the newcomers are three players who came from the Gamecocks’ archrival. Junior pitcher Ricky Williams, redshirt junior outfielder Dylan Brewer and redshirt junior catcher Jonathan French all arrived in Columbia from Clemson.
Kingston and his staff also received commitments from players at other Power 5 programs, including sophomore pitcher Roman Kimball.
Kimball transferred from Notre Dame and finished the 2022 season with a 4-0 record and 5.76 ERA over 25 innings. He made 17 appearances out of the bullpen, one of which was in the College World Series.
Transfers from other major programs include graduate student pitcher Nick Proctor from California and junior first baseman Gavin Casas from Vanderbilt.
The Gamecocks roster will also feature some new bats who showed up in big ways for various mid-major programs this past season.
Redshirt junior infielder Caleb Denny was one of Oral Roberts’ most productive players last season, hitting .331 and leading the Summit League in RBI (57), runs scored (63) and hits (79). Junior first baseman Jacob Compton similarly delivered for the Memphis Tigers with a .291 batting average, 11 home runs and 56 RBI.
Senior second baseman Will McGillis, a member of the Southern Mississippi squad that hosted a regional in last year’s NCAA Tournament, finished second on the team in home runs (16) and RBI (51). Junior two-way player Chris Veach will bring a unique set of skills to the table. In his two years at Presbyterian, Veach batted .336 at the plate and pitched to a 2.70 ERA.
Track and field
Eleven members of the track and field team competed in the 2022 NCAA Outdoors Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Overall, the Gamecocks took home 10 All-American honors, but came up short of winning it all, as Florida won both the men's and women's championships.
Junior jumper Rachel Glenn failed to defend last year's high jump title and finished third while being named a First Team All-American.
"She fought through an ankle injury from the fall but did a phenomenal job getting back into form, finishing on the podium at both the NCAA and national championship meets," head coach Curtis Frye told GamecocksOnline.
In addition to competing in the 4x100-meter relay, senior sprinter Evan Miller finished 10th overall in the 200-meter with a time of 20.35. Not only was this a personal best time for him, but it was also third-best in school history. He was named a Second Team All-American for his efforts.
“His year was special,” Frye said. “We’re happy to have his leadership back next year. I hope this group learns from this and will find its way back into the top 10.”
Golf
After failing to reach the NCAA Championship, the men's golf team underwent multiple changes during the offseason.
Three Gamecocks — juniors Nick Mayfield, Liam Shinn and Jason Quinlan — entered the transfer portal. To counteract this, the team added two transfers to the roster, fifth-year Zach Byers and senior Lansdon Robbins.
Outside of the transfer portal, the Gamecocks recruited three true freshmen for next season: Zach Adams, Walker Jennings and Luke Sullivan.
Head coach Bill McDonald lost a member of his coaching staff in early June when former assistant coach Ben Dietrich stepped down. The team hired former High Point men's golf head coach Brady Gregor to fill the assistant coach spot. While at High Point, he helped the Panthers qualify for the NCAA Regional in 2018 and 2021.
On the women's side, No. 3 South Carolina's season came to an end at the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship. Despite having the lowest score in the final round, the Gamecocks finished in 14th place.
Head coach Kalen Anderson was named the WGCA South Region Coach of the Year after helping a program-record four players receive All-SEC honors.
Sophomores Louise Rydqvist and Hannah Darling have been competing since the season ended. Rydqvist finished second in the World Amateur Championship in June, winning The Diana Fishwick Cup. Darling made it into the top four before being eliminated the day prior to the final round.
Tennis
Former men's tennis players Paul Jubb and Francisco Cerundolo competed at the Wimbledon Championships in London, England.
Earning entry to the tournament as a wild card, Jubb, who made his second appearance at Wimbledon, fell to Nick Kyrgios in five sets. Jubb won the first set 6-3 and the fourth in a tiebreaker, but lost the deciding set 7-5 to his Australian opponent.
In his debut at the All England Club, Cerundolo drew No. 2 overall seed Rafael Nadal in the first round and was defeated in four sets. After falling two sets behind early against the Spaniard, Cerundolo won the third 6-3 before losing the fourth 6-4.
Following Wimbledon, Cerundolo and junior Toby Samuel added to their trophy cases, earning their first tournament victories on their respective tours.
Cerundolo emerged victorious at the Swedish Open for his first ATP Tour win. Cerundolo defeated five opponents, including No. 1 seed and world No. 5 Casper Ruud, on his way to the title.
In just his fourth ATP-ranked singles event, Samuel entered the ITF M25 in Roehampton as a wild card and went on to win the tournament. Samuel began the event ranked No. 1776 and defeated two opponents more than 1,000 places above him — No. 616 Mark Whitehouse and No. 550 Henry Patten — for his first professional victory.