Mark Kingston believes talking about earning a national seed 'brings no value'

Head coach Mark Kingston and the South Carolina Gamecocks are getting ready for a key series against the Georgia Bulldogs late in the season. It’s a series that will impact the SEC standings and has the chance to impact the Field of 64 as well.

For now, though, Kingston emphasized that it’s important to focus on the task at hand. That’s winning the games ahead of South Carolina, saying that he believes there’s no value in talking about earning a national seed at this point.

“As a coach, you look at everything possible,” Mark Kingston said. “But talking about it, belaboring the point, brings no value. The only value that a team needs is how to prepare for the next game, and you try to win that game.”

South Carolina is coming into the series against Georgia with a record of 33-15 overall and 13-11 in SEC play. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are 35-12 with a 13-11 record in SEC play. The focus is going to be on Georgia this weekend.

“And if you do that enough then those things take care of themselves, they become byproducts. You can’t say, ‘I want this or I want that,’ it doesn’t make those things happen,” Kingston said. “Winning games and then reverse engineering how to win games on that day, that’s what gets you where you want to go.”

As of now, On3’s Jonathan Wagner is projecting that South Carolina will not be hosting a Regional in the Field of 64. Instead, he is projecting the Gamecocks going into the NCAA Regionals as a two-seed. However, there is still plenty of time for that to change, and winning the Georgia series would be an excellent start.

Mark Kingston shares South Carolina’s starting rotation for Georgia series

Ahead of that series against Georgia, Mark Kingston shared what to expect from South Carolina’s starting rotation.

“We’ll go Kimball, Jones, TBA,” Kingston revealed.

Roman Kimball has started six games this season. During that time, he’s pitched in 21.1 innings. He also has a 4.61 ERA and has allowed 17 hits this season. After him, Eli Jones has consistently started games this season for South Carolina, with 12. He has a 4.53 ERA this year.

Mark Kingston didn’t reveal the team’s Sunday starter just yet. However, it will likely have something to do with how the series has gone to that point and how heavily the Gamecocks need to use their bullpen in the first couple of games during the series.