South Carolina Gamecocks head baseball coach Paul Mainieri stated at a press conference on Thursday that pitcher Eli Jerzembeck will miss the balance of the 2025 season due to a stress fracture in his elbow.
Back on February 13, Mainieri confirmed that Jerzembeck will miss the early part of the 2025 season, with the hope of his returning later. That is no longer the case, as we now have Thursday’s news.
Jerzembeck has not played since his freshman season in 2023. He had Tommy John Surgery late in the 2023 season, which caused him to miss all of 2024. Now a stress fracture ends his year for the second consecutive season. Jerzembeck is set to have surgery in early March.
While not expecting to have him early on, the loss of Jerzembeck is certainly a blow to the Gamecocks rotation. When healthy, Jerzembeck appeared in 16 games with three starts holding 2.84 ERA. Gamecocks pitching coach Terry Rooney will have to rely on other arms as the season progresses.
The news breaks a day before South Carolina is set to host Milwaukee for a three game series.
