One player would not have fixed everything, but a lot could have been very different with him.
Among the many missing pieces from the confounding, jagged South Carolina baseball puzzle in 2024, pitcher Eli Jerzembeck might have been the most sorely sought after one.
Jerzembeck was electric to start his collegiate career as a true freshman in 2023, pitching to a 2.84 ERA in 16 appearances including three starts. But with two weeks remaining in the regular season, he walked off the mound at Kentucky with an elbow injury.
It was a torn UCL, meaning he needed Tommy John surgery and missed the entirety of the 2024 season. Now he is back, and the excitement is growing.
“We feel like he’s in great shape,” Paul Mainieri said at his press conference previewing fall baseball. “His bullpens have been outstanding.”
The now redshirt sophomore is one of many names who will be competing for a spot in the weekend rotation. South Carolina will have to replace Friday starter Eli Jones, and Garrett Gainey is also gone after elevating himself from reliever to weekend starter by the end of the season.
But Tyler Pitzer, Roman Kimball, Dylan Eskew and Matthew Becker are all back to form the possible nucleus of the starting rotation, and two other sophomores — Eddie Copper and Parker Marlatt — are injured at the moment but both flashed enough last season to think they could be factors come next spring.
No matter how the chips fall, though, Jerzembeck is likely to be a big part of it. The stuff is simply too electric, and the potential is too strong for him not to factor into high leverage innings.
Assuming he is healthy, which fall ball will be a big step towards proving.
“He should be ready to go. I think he pitches Wednesday this week if I’m not mistaken,” Mainieri said. “ He’ll throw one inning, and then we’re going to try to build him up.”
South Carolina has 27 team practices in fall baseball spread across 44 days, including two exhibition games against other schools. The Gamecocks will host Air Force on Oct. 26 and travel to College of Charleston on Nov. 7, two opportunities for live action against someone other than his teammates.
If everything stays on schedule for the next four weeks leading up to those, these should represent Jerzembeck’s first opportunities to pitch in live games since his injury in Lexington.
“He’s a priority for us because obviously he missed all of last year, and there’s such great potential there, such great talent,” Mainieri said. “I’m not trying to get ahead of myself but I’m certain if everything is going according to plan, he’ll probably pitch in both of those scrimmage games against other teams just to get him out there.”
Those games are of course nowhere near the stakes or intensity of the spring, but the belief is already there that Jerzembeck can hold his own in the biggest games of the 2025 season.
“He’s got electric stuff,” Mainieri said with a smile. “And when you watch him throw a bullpen you think Friday night starter, there’s no question about that.”
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