The 2025 season will be the first true opportunity for sophomore Jake McCoy to put his talents on display. Although, it\u2019s not his first season at South Carolina.<\/p>\n
Joining the Gamecocks in 2024, the Fort Mill, S.C. native and left-handed pitcher missed his first fall and half of his freshman season. He didn\u2019t make his college debut until March 17 against Ole Miss \u2014 the first weekend of SEC play. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe dial got turned up pretty quick,\u201d McCoy told GamecockCentral. \u201cI mean, loud and like, I went on Sunday, I\u2019m pretty sure. And the loudest environment I\u2019ve ever been in my life, pitching in front of the biggest crowd ever. The biggest crowd ever, I mean, to men\u2019s league, so no room for little boys.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCoy finished his season with a 7.88 ERA and 20 strikeouts to 15 walks in 12 appearances. Now going through his first full year, he\u2019s eager for more. His focus in the fall preparing for this season was simple. Be intentional. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust focusing in being more intentional with each and every pitch,\u201d McCoy said. \u201cIt was good to have actual fall; last year I didn\u2019t have one. So I feel like I learned a lot this fall. I\u2019m ready to go. Keep going for the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
[Join GamecockCentral: $1 for 7 days]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n As he prepares for a new season, McCoy has also been preparing for his role to increase on the pitching staff. Head coach Paul Mainieri considers McCoy to be one of the early frontrunners vying for a spot in the weekend rotation.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking out a little bit more, kind of trying to get my body ready to go. Billy\u2019s (Anderson) been great with conditioning coach. (Terry) Rooney\u2019s been on me, so it\u2019s been good. I feel like I\u2019m ready,\u201d McCoy said. \u201cMy body feels great right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to the 2025 season, the Gamecocks brought in pitching coach Terry Rooney. Rooney has added a new mentality and drive amongst his pitchers.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s awesome, like he stays on me all the time, which I need. Super intense, wants to win really, really bad, which kind of feeds off on us. But yeah, I love him,\u201d McCoy said.<\/p>\n Win tickets to Sacred Heart Game 1: Season opener, Paul Mainieri\u2019s debut<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n In addition to a fastball and slider, McCoy has added a changeup to his pitch mix, which is something he and Rooney worked on. <\/p>\n \u201cChange up feels really good,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a new pitch kind of developing. It\u2019s nasty on trackman. So I like that one a lot. And then kind of fastball, slider, like you said. So I feel good. I\u2019m confident.\u201d<\/p>\n As Rooney and Mainieri develop a firmer pitching rotation for the season, McCoy remains confident in his arm.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving complete and full confidence in myself and being composed and having the poise in every single pitch,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Discuss South Carolina baseball on The Insiders Forum!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The post \u2018I\u2019m ready to go\u2019: Jake McCoy confident in abilities ahead first full season at South Carolina<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2025 season will be the first true opportunity for sophomore Jake McCoy to put…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}