South Carolina baseball picks up second transfer from in-state rival Clemson

South Carolina baseball picked up its second transfer commitment from rival Clemson on Wednesday.

Former Tigers infielder Nolan Nawrocki announced on his Instagram he has committed to Paul Mainieri and the Gamecocks. Nawrocki joins outfielder Nathan Hall as former Clemson Tigers who will play for South Carolina next season.

A few hours later, Texas A&M catcher Max Kaufer announced his commitment to the Gamecocks on social media.

That’s three Power 4 commits for the Gamecocks this week, joining Ohio State’s Henry Kaczmar. Nawrocki announced he was going into the transfer portal on Friday.

He appeared in 36 games last year for the Tigers and hit .264 with four homers and 24 RBI. He was rated as a top-300 player in the country by Perfect Game coming out of Chaminade High School in Long Island, NY.

The New York native is playing for the Cotuit Kettlers in the Cape Cod League. In 10 games so far, he is hitting .268 with two homers and five RBIs.

South Carolina went 37-25 in 2024 and fired Mark Kingston after the season. Former LSU coach Maineri replaced Kingston, and his staff has been busy trying to fill the roster for next year. USC has received commitments from 11 transfers since June 2.

Hall and Nawrocki will face off against their former team during the three-game Palmetto Series between Clemson and USC, which is played annually the first weekend of March and includes one game in Columbia, one in Clemson and one at a neutral site (likely Greenville for 2025).

They continue a trend of former Gamecocks winding up with the Tigers that started when Clemson fired then-coach Monte Lee after the 2022 season.

Three Clemson players transferred to USC that offseason (Dylan Brewer, Jonathan French and Ricky Williams) and Lee was later hired as an assistant coach.

Lee also worked as South Carolina’s interim coach after the school fired Kingston in early June, was a candidate for the full-time job and was ultimately retained by Mainieri.

Lee (who was replaced by former Michigan coach Erik Bakich at Clemson) is now one of the highest paid assistants in the country heading into 2025 with the Gamecocks.

Kaufer will have two years of eligibility left. He appeared in just 14 games this season and hit .250 with a homer and four RBI.

As a freshman, Kaufer appeared in 46 games and had a homer and 12 RBIs.

Kaufer was ranked as a top-50 prospect by Baseball America coming out of IMG Academy.

South Carolina transfer portal

A list of players USC baseball has added and lost in the transfer portal

Additions

Caleb Jones, RHP, Winthrop — June 3

Cayden Gaskin, INF/OF, Northwest Florida State — June 12

Dalton Mashore, OF, St. Mary’s — June 14

Wyatt Evans, LHP, Tennessee — June 21

Ashton Crowther, LHP, Miami — June 24

Nathan Hall, OF, Clemson — June 24

Jarvis Evans, LHP, Georgia — June 26

Charlie Meglio, INF, Campbell — June 26

Henry Kaczmar, INF, Ohio State — July 2

Nolan Nawrocki, INF, Clemson — July 3

Max Kaufer, C, Texas A&M — July 3

Leaving

Connor McCreery, RHP

Carson Hornung, OF

Jackson Phipps, LHP (Jacksonville State)

Jevarra Martin, LHP

Drake Quinn, RHP

Tristan Salinas, UTIL

Austin Williamson, RHP

Tyler Zedalis, INF (Old Dominion)