Mark Kingston believes a player should get the opportunity to play four years of college baseball if he wants.

For the Gamecocks’ four seniors, they’ll get that opportunity but if they do come back for one final ride at South Carolina it’ll come after making a pretty important decision.

“I think all four of them are hoping to be able to move on to professional baseball at this point,” Mark Kingston said. “I also think they understand with a five round draft that may not be in the cards yet.”

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The Gamecocks had four seniors on their roster that will have the chance to come back for one final year of eligibility: George Callil, Graham Lawson, Dallas Beaver and Bryant Bowen.

But, coming back will mean putting their professional careers on hold for another year as they get a little older.

If they don’t come back, they might not be drafted in a shortened, five-round MLB Draft, which means the most they could sign for is $20,000. That, though, is more than most seniors get in a regular draft year.

“I think they’ll all continue to weigh their options. With all four there’s a possibility they come back. There’s a possibility some could move on to professional baseball,” Kingston said. “They all have interest in coming back at this point but they want to weigh their options.”

Seniors, if they opt to come back, will be able to go back on their same scholarship they were on and won’t count towards the 11.7 limit and the 35-man roster limit this year.

But, if the seniors do come back they won’t be on a full scholarship which means they’ll have to pay part of the way to play one last season at South Carolina.

“For seniors there are a lot of factors in play. Number one, is professional baseball an option? Number two, do you want to come back and play? There’s a lot of cost involved. We need to remember even if we’re able to put guys on the same scholarships they were on last year, we’re not a full scholarship sport,” Kingston said. “There’s still a pretty heavy price to be paid for seniors across the country even if they’re on scholarship. There are a lot of factors that go into it. We’d love to have all four of our seniors back. Is that in the cards? Only time will tell.”

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Even if the seniors don’t return, with a shortened draft it means more juniors and high-level high school players returning to school.

Kingston said on 107.5 last week there could be a “golden age” coming in college basketball and the talent level in college baseball will be elite next season.

“There probably will be more players not moving on to pro baseball at this point than you anticipated a month ago when all this started or a year ago or two years ago when you signed a lot of these kids,” he said. “It’s a factor. It’s a challenge for every coach around the country. There will be a lot more players in college baseball this year that would have normally been in professional baseball.”