SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Boasting a championship pedigree from his time as a player and assistant coach across multiple levels, Audie Afenir has been tabbed as the newest member of the USC Upstate baseball coaching staff by head coach Kane Sweeney.
 
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 back-to-back NAIA National Tournament appearances and a pair of Great Southwest Athletic Conference championships in 2022. He tutored 11 different players to 13 combined All-GSAC honors and four players to a combined five GSAC Gold Glove winners. The Royals also captured three major GSAC awards with Maxfield Jung-Goldberg earning GSAC Player of the Year honors in 2023 and Hector Garcia winning Pitcher of the Year accolades in 2022 and 2023.
 
In 2023, the Royals offense led the GSAC in runs (432), hits (529), doubles (120), triples (15), home runs (69), RBI (381), slugging percentage (.559), and on-base percentage (.423). Many of the players recruited and coached by Afenir permeate the Hope International record book.
 
Beginning his coaching career, Afenir spent two seasons (2020 and 2021) as an assistant coach in charge of hitters and catchers at Palomar College. Both seasons, however, were affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic with the 2020 season shortened and the 2021 season cancelled.
 
During his coaching career, he's also served as the head coach of the Hooks of the San Diego League, leading the team to a 2020 Collegiate Summer League championship, and as the associate head coach of the Kokomo Jackrabbits in 2021.
 
Afenir was selected in the 25^th round of the 2025 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees, playing three seasons in the organization across three levels. He spent the remainder of the 2015 season as a teammate of Upstate head coach Kane Sweeney with the Pulaski Yankees of the Appalachian League before again teaming with Sweeney with the Charleston RiverDogs (South Atlantic League) in 2016. Afenir also spent part of the 2017 season with the Tampa Yankees (Florida State League).
 
Outside of affiliated professional baseball, Afenir played for the Long Island Ducks (2017-18) of the Atlantic League, the Lake Erie Crushers (2017) and Gateway Grizzlies (2018) of the Frontier League, and the Cleburne Railroaders (2019) of the American Association.
 
Afenir played collegiately at Palomar College (2011-12) and Oral Roberts (2013-15). In his time with the Golden Eagles, he earned First Team All-Summit League honors in 2015, helping Oral Roberts to an appearance in the Stillwater Regional. Afenir also earned All-PCAC First Team selections in both of his seasons at Palomar College.
 
A native of Escondido, Calif., Afenir graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Administration with a minor in Humanities from Oral Roberts in 2015.
 
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