University of South Carolina-Upstate Baseball

Kane Sweeney enters his second season as the head baseball coach at USC Upstate during the 2026 season after being announced as the program's fifth head coach on June 14, 2024. The 2025 season marks his seventh overall on the USC Upstate staff, serving on the staff as the associate head coach (2024) or assistant coach (2020-23) after being announced to the coaching staff on July 3, 2019. In his first season at the helm, Sweeney led Upstate to its first-ever Big South Championships, claiming the regular season and tournament championships en route to an appearance in the NCAA Clemson Regional, where USC Upstate was the lone first-time qualifier in the 2026 NCAA Tournament field. He was one of three first-time head coaches to lead their program to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2025, joining Coastal Carolina's Kevin Schnall and West Virginia's Steve Sabins. Upstate's 36 wins in 2025 make Sweeney the winningest first-year head coach in program history, surpassing John Duarity (34 wins in 1986) while extending the Spartans' streak of seasons with 35 or more wins to five. The Spartans collected numerous pieces of hardware throughout the 2025 season as the campaign saw the program's first-ever Dick Howser Trophy Semifinalist (Johnny Sweeney), an ABCA/Rawlings First Team All-American (J. Sweeney), a D1Baseball Second Team Freshman All-American (Henry Zenor), an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Finalist (Scott Newman), and two ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selections (J.Sweeney and Scott Campbe

Audie Afenir enters his first season as an assistant coach at USC Upstate during the 2026 season after being announced to the coaching staff on Sep. 9, 2025. Afenir joins the Spartan staff after spending the 2025 season as an assistant coach working with hitters and catchers at Palomar College, where he was a two-season standout to begin his collegiate career. In his second stint on the Comets coaching staff, the club captured a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championship en route to a California Community College Athletic Association SoCal Regional Final appearance. Five Comets found themselves as All-PCAC selections under Afenir’s tutelage with eight additional players earning honorable mention all-conference honors. Palomar College’s offense in 2025 led the PCAC in runs (432), hits (540), triples (20), RBI (392), walks (248), steals (65), and on-base percentage (.425) while Comet catchers gunned down a league-leading 31 would-be base stealers. Prior to his return to Palomar College, Afenir spent one season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at CSU Bakersfield, where he worked primarily with hitters and catchers. With the Roadrunners, he worked with MLB draftee and All-Big West performer Ryan Verdugo, the Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year. At the end of the season, CSU Bakersfield ranked fourth in the NCAA in sacrifice bunts, totaling 55. Afenir joined the Roadrunners following a two-season stint at Hope International University, helping the Royals to ba

Baker Cox enters his first season as the director of pitching development at USC Upstate during the 2026 season after being announced to the coaching staff on Aug. 14, 2025. Beginning his coaching career, Cox joins the Spartans following two seasons at UNC Wilmington, where he appeared in 34 games over two seasons. With the Seahawks, he tossed 41.1 innings, accruing a 4-1 record and one save while punching out 33 hitters. He crafted 19 scoreless outings in his two seasons at UNCW. Before transferring to UNCW, Cox spent two seasons in the Hub City, competing at Spartanburg Methodist. He appeared in 34 games, making six starts for the Pioneers, compiling a 5-6 record and five saves over 74.1 innings of work. Striking out 80 batters, he posted a career 9.68 strikeout per nine innings total, posting a 10.61 mark as a freshman in 2022 on a club that led NJCAA Region X in the category. He began his collegiate career at Charleston Southern, taking a redshirt. A native of Hopkins, S.C., Cox graduated from UNC Wilmington in 2025.

Easton Cullison enters his second season with the USC Upstate baseball program in 2026, his first season as a full-time assistant coach. Serving as a student assistant for the Spartans during the 2025 season, Cullison helped Upstate to its first-ever NCAA Regional behind its first Big South regular season and tournament championships. Working primarily with the team's offense and infield defense while serving as the team's first base coach, he helped the Spartans rank top 30 in the NCAA in 11 different statistical categories, including top-five placements for sacrifice flies (first), hits (second), runs (second), and scoring (third). A four-year Spartan player, competing from 2021-24, Cullison stands as one of the most prolific base stealers in program history, owning the Division I era (2007-pres.) career and single season records for stolen bases with 52 and 25, respectively. Over 145 career games, 111 starts, he posted a .281 career batting average, collecting 116 hits, 53 RBI, and 86 runs scored. A native of Spartanburg, S.C., Cullison graduated from USC Upstate in 2025.

Baseball Adds Two More Weekly Awards to Yearly Haul as Max Bianchini and Jacob Kirby Bring Home Big South Relief Pitcher and Freshman of the Week Honors Baseball Adds Two More Weekly Awards to Yearly Haul as Max Bianchini and Jacob Kirby Bring Home Big South Relief Pitcher and Freshman of the Week Honors Monday, May 18

Nick Hoffman enters his third season as an assistant coach at USC Upstate during the 2025 season after being announced to the coaching staff on August 11, 2022. In 2024, Upstate captured 36 victories, giving the program a fourth consecutive season with 35 or more wins, the longest such streak in program history. The Spartans also returned to the Big South Tournament Championship Game for the second straight season. Working with the team's pitchers and catchers, under Hoffman's direction Upstate catchers threw out double-digit would-be base stealers (13) while the battery defense combined to pick off 13 runners as the group stopped 26 potential base stealers. The pitching staff in 2024 struck out a program-record 510 hitters, eclipsing the program record for single-season strikeouts for the second consecutive season. Assisting with the team's baserunning in 2024, helped the group reach 80-plus stolen bases for the third consecutive season, stealing 82 bags in 95 attempts, a success rate of 86.3 percent--a six-percent improvement from the season prior. In 2023, Hoffman helped guide USC Upstate to one of the most successful seasons in program history as the program reached its first-ever Big South Tournament Championship Game while collecting a program-best 38 overall wins and 21 conference wins (non-40-game conference schedule) en route to the No. 2 seed in the Big South Championship. Working primarily with the team’s pitchers and catchers, Hoffman oversaw a group of backstops