News digest, Jan. 9

 

(Some of this stuff is new, some of it happened while I was on hiatus)

Burke leaves Lander, Popp takes over

Jason Burke has stepped down after nine seasons as Lander's head coach to work in the scouting department of the Washington Nationals. He led the Bearcats to 217 wins, including 43 in 2025.

The Greenwood school quickly promoted associate head coach Nick Popp to replace Burke.
Burke

Popp

Benedict to add streaming

Benedict has announced plans to add video streaming of its home baseball games.
Tigers

Tigers getting ready

Clemson's preseason banquet is set for Feb. 7 at the Poe Indoor Practice Facility.
Tigers

Curtis back in Charleston

College of Charleston Hall of Fame member Lee Curtis has returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach.
Cougars

Musgraves to lead Rams

Veteran coach Rocke Musgraves is the new coach at Columbia International. Jonathan Johnson left that position after last season.
Musgraves

Fleet offer twin leaders

Scotty Bateman and Jimmy Prince will serve as co-head coaches at Erskine. Both were assistants under Mark Crocco last season. Crocco is now affiliated with the Loco Beach Coconuts, one of the Savannah Bananas rivals in the new Banana Ball Championship League.
Erskine

Jones keeps up wiith NGU

Former North Greenville star Utah Jones has returned to Tigerville as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.
Jones

Conway with PC

Former Spartanburg Methodist assistant O'Kevius Conway has joined the staff of Elton Pollock at Presbyterian.
PC

Stuart on Pioneers' staff

Colby Stuart has joined the staff at Spartanburg Methodist. He comes to the Pioneers from East Tennessee State, where he played and was an assistant coach.
Pioneers

Gorman adds two to Pacers' staff

First-year coach Keith Gorman has added Davin Conway and Riley Nelson has assistant coaches at USC Aiken. Conway was pitching coach at Barton the last two seasons, while Nelson served as interim head coach at Spartanburg Methodist after the health-induced retirement of Tim Wallace.
Pacers

Lewis in charge

Former USC Beaufort assistant Brian Lewis is head coach of the Sand Sharks in 2026 after serving in an assistant's role under Ted Falkner last season.

Thompson moves up

With the retirement of Tim Medlin after last season, former USC Sumter player and longtime assistant Will Thompson is now the head coach.
Fire Ants

Spartans have new setup

Second-year head coach Kane Sweeney has added Audie Afenir to the USC Upstate coaching staff. Afenir comes from Palomar (Calif.) College.

In addition, Baker Cox comes to Spartanburg from UNC Wilmington to serve as director of pitcher development and former player and student assistant Easton Cullison is now an assistant coach.
Afenir

Cox

Cullison

Tigers make change

Voorhees' staff directory lists Bruce Martin as the new head coach, but I can't find any information about him or what happened to former coach Norman O'Neal.

Eagles plan fete

Winthrop will hold its First Pitch Banquet Feb. 12 at McBryde Hall in Rock Hill.
Winthrop

Reynolds joins Terriers

Corley Reynolds has joined Wofford's staff as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He previously was at Young Harris.
Terriers

Asheville hosts Big South

The Big South Conference baseball tournament will be at McCormick Field in Asheville in 2026 and 2027. This year's event will be May 20-23. The tournament was held in High Point, N.C., last year.
Big South