The natives have become restless in Columbia, South Carolina. It’s only Year 1, but the Paul Mainieri era is off to a rough start. Social media critics have turned on the former national championship coach, with some already calling for his departure. That comes on the heels of South Carolina getting swept in College Station to a suddenly hot Texas A&M team.
However, it’s not that they were swept, it’s how they got swept that is the most concerning part.
South Carolina lost the series opener on Thursday 8-7 via abwalk off home run in extra innings. They then lost Game 2 17-0. Then, there was Game 3. There have been some low points for this team this season, but nothing of this level. South Carolina had a 12-3 lead in the seventh inning. They then took a 12-7 lead into the ninth.
They surrendered a grand slam to make it 12-11. Then promptly surrender another grand slam to lose 15-12. Be mad at the head coach all you want, but he didn’t allow 40 earned runs off the mound.
OMG@AggieBaseball was down 12-3 going into the 7th.
Down 12-7 going into the bottom of the 9th.
The hit a Grand Slam to cut it to 12-11 and then a WALK OFF GRAND SLAM to win it 15-12.
UNREAL
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) April 12, 2025
Put simply, Georgia’s pitching is bad and an absolute liability. That shouldn’t overshadow how big of a series win they had this weekend over No. 1 Arkansas. But man oh man, their pitching staff is going to give players, coaches, and fans hypertension come postseason.
Case in point, this tweet from the official UGA Baseball account. There is not a more “this isn’t the flex you think it is” tweet in the history of tweets than this. Regardless, thank God that lineup rakes.
The longest outing by a Bulldog starter this season 👏
5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K#GoDawgs | @LeightonFinley pic.twitter.com/8rl4pEBM0p
— Georgia Baseball (@BaseballUGA) April 13, 2025
Alabama took their No. 12 ranking to Starkville this weekend and left with a series loss. That’s their ninth straight series loss to the Bulldogs. That’s not a great sign considering this is one of the best Alabama teams in the last decade and one of the worst Mississippi State teams over that same time span.
Then there’s Auburn who capped off just a horrid weekend for LSU with a 3-2 Sunday win. The one run win completed a sweep of LSU. That’s their first sweep over the Bayou Bengals since 1988.
THE AUBURN TIGERS SWEEP LSU FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1988 🧹🧹🧹🧹
Back to back series wins over Top 10 teams for Auburn pic.twitter.com/eMcdjjnj3Q
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) April 13, 2025
