Georgia Southwestern Fall Report: Offense Rebuilt, Pitching Staff Bolstered

2025 record: 29-23, 16-11 PBC

Staff: HC Josh McDonald, PC/RC Jordan Barrett, AC Trey Chapman

Josh McDonald heads into his eighth season as the head man at Georgia Southwestern, having turned the Hurricanes into a perennial contender in the Peach Belt Conference. GSW has finished in the top half of the league in four-straight seasons, including a PBC regular season and tournament championship in 2023. The 2025 squad finished 29-23 overall, including a series win over an always-tough Nova Southeastern squad. 

The Offense

After losing 97.9% of its offensive production from the 2025 season, Georgia Southwestern went JUCO heavy to reload its offense. 

Behind the plate, GSW brought in Sam Hogue (.327, 18 2B, 5 HR, 40 RBI) from Calhoun CC, Braden Simmons (.312, 11 2B, 6 HR, 41 RBI) from Andrew College, and Edwin Melendez (.301, 6 2B, 5 HR, 40 RBI) via Lake Sumter State CC. 

Josh McDonald (.351, 11 2B, 8 HR, 42 RBI) and Noah Jones (.311, 7 XBH) come over from Chattahoochee Valley CC to reinforce the infield group, while adding Drew Reaves (.250, 12 2B, 2 HR, 34 RBI) from Pensacola State CC, and Tripp Helgeson (.355, 15 2B, 10 HR, 52 RBI, 21 SB) from East Georgia State. 

Caleb Gibson should make an impact in the outfield after a strong 2025 season at Cleveland State CC (.335, 13 2B, 5 HR, 40 RBI, 20 SB), with Devon Murphy also providing some help after a good year at Coastal Alabama – South CC (.357, 10 2B, 6 HR, 29 RBI, 16 SB). The Hurricanes also add utility man Pierce Glading from Valdosta State and Drake Harman from Tampa to its portal class, with Brody Bellomo joining them from the high school ranks after hitting .359 with 12 extra-base hits at Cambridge Christian (Tampa, Fla.) in 2025.

The Pitching Staff

Although the pitching staff wasn’t hit quite as hard as the offense, the Hurricanes still lost 72% of their innings pitched from the 2025 season. Returning for the club on the mound are righthanders Cooper Sain and Jackson Raper. Sain logged a 3.83 ERA across 40 innings out of the bullpen, while holding opponents to a paltry .215 batting average against. Raper will be the only Hurricane pitcher on the roster that has made a start in the Blue and Gold, after logging 12 of them last season and putting together a 4-4 record with a 5.37 ERA over 58.2 innings. 

GSW added RHP Tephen Montgomery, who redshirted at Western Kentucky last season and made seven appearances at Oregon State in 2024, RHP Evan Koehler comes over from South Florida, while RHP Derek Espinoza comes aboard after pitching to a 4.37 ERA across 21 appearances over the last two seasons at USC Aiken. RHP Wade Johnson is another to keep an eye on after logging a 2.96 ERA, six wins, seven saves, and 68 K in 78 IP across the last two seasons at Polk State CC, while RHP Jensen Seculer joins the staff after making five appearances at Marshall in 2024. The Hurricanes also added LHPs Johnny Nutt (Fitzgerald, Ga.) and Jake Howell (Rochelle, Ga.), the 18th and 24th ranked southpaws in Georgia according to Perfect Game, respectively, and RHP Colby Beach (Hazelhurst, Ga.)

2026 Schedule & Outlook

The 2026 schedule is not light on quality opponents. The Hurricanes will play 17 games against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

GSW opens up at home with a three-game set with Trevecca Nazarene (Jan. 30-Feb. 1), before hosting their first midweek game against Auburn-Montgomery (Feb. 3). The Hurricanes will then make the trek down to Tigerville, S.C. to take on North Greenville (Feb. 6-7) for a weekend series. Other key non-conference dates include a home-and-home against Valdosta State (Feb. 17 & Apr. 14), a weekend series at 2025 national champions Tampa (Mar. 6-8) and a midweek trip to 2025 South Region runner-up West Florida for a two-game set (Mar. 17-18)

Coaches Corner with pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Jordan Barnett: “We are excited for this upcoming spring! We just wrapped up our fall team practice period and found out a lot about who we are as team. With 24 newcomers it’s important to make sure each guy understands the expectations we have within our program, and they have done a great job grasping it quickly. Our expectations each year are to win a PBC championship and move on to the NCAA Tournament and that’s no different this year.” If you value this in-depth, non-paywalled coverage of D2 Baseball, please consider supporting our independent reporting efforts. Your contribution helps us continue providing free access to all our articles without relying on restrictive paywalls. To support our work, please visit our Patreon page: patreon.com/diviibaseball