Winthrop baseball players coaches are excited and ready to face the Spring 2025 season as former assistant coach Mike McGuire steps up to the plate as the new head baseball coach.
“I had a relationship with a lot of people at Winthrop because I had worked here for so long,” Coach McGuire explained. “Worked here for twelve years as assistant coach. There were a lot of connections at Winthrop.”
Coach McGuire said he has had a very long relationship with the sport of baseball that has led him to this point.
“My dad got me interested in baseball and my love for the game so when I got to the end of my playing career I couldn’t see myself walking away from baseball and coaching was a way to stay heavily involved with it,” coach McGuire explained.
Every single head coach of a sports team has a gameplan, and Coach McGuire is no different. He describes what believes will make a well-rounded, winning baseball team.
“Besides talent and work ethnic, I think it’s the culture of the program,” coach McGuire said.
“As the head coach, I’m responsible for setting the expectations, setting examples, portraying how we work, how we compete and how we practice, how we behave and treat others.”
Coach McGuire has one main goal for the season: playing on the national stage.
“I want to compete nationally,” Coach McGuire said. “Given where the program has been, my number one goal this season is to get ourselves up off the mat and put ourselves back on the map of the national scene. That may not happen overnight, we got to take baby steps but I think we’re going to be a much improved program that has a chance to compete for a Big South Championship.”
Winthrop baseball struggled notably over the past four years, with 3 losing seasons and one season in 2023 where they ended the year right at a .500 winning percentage.
Beyond this season, coach McGuire wants to see the team become a powerhouse among the college baseball teams.
“Longterm, my goal is for us to be a mainstay in the college baseball postseason.”
The baseball players of Winthrop also shared the same sentiment of their coach. Nate Chronis, a senior playing for the team, also expressed the desire to go far this season.
“More than anything, I just want to go to a regional and win one.” Chronis explained. “Play into June as far as possible, get to the play-offs and see what we can do from there.”
Despite it being the first week of the season, the baseball team already made quite the statement, as they completed a 3-0 sweep in their series against Merrimack college and outscored them 32-7.
“It was great,” Chronis said. “Great series and a great start to the year. Looking forward to building off of it.”
Winthrop looks to build off their strong start as they begin a weekend series against Villanova this Friday, Feb. 21. The team will then head up to Clemson to face the Tigers on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
