Everything Mark Kingston said after being swept at home this weekend
Following South Carolina’s 14-6 loss to Georgia on Saturday, head coach Mark Kingston met with the media to discuss the game. Here’s what he had to say.
Opening statement
“Well, Georgia played their ass off all weekend, and we did not. So for seven innings today, I thought we were going to win that game. Gainey did great, did exactly what we thought he would in the starting role. And then obviously, it all fell in on us those last two innings. Got to be better from that and we will.”
On what he talked to the team about after being swept with what’s ahead
“A little bit of both. I talked to them about how this game was not meant to pat you on the back, this is a game built on failure. It will beat you up, give you a lot of highs and a lot of lows. And you need to handle it properly. This game will make a man out of you if you play it long enough. This was one of those weekends where we took a lot of gut punches that we’ve got to make sure we grow from and become tougher from. Again, tip my cap to Georgia. It’s amazing what they’ve done. They’ve turned that program in very short order thanks to the transfer portal. It’s probably the best offense we saw all year. We’ve got to pitch better, regardless of who we’re playing.”
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On decision to go to Connor McCreery before the go-ahead grand slam
“Yeah, it was a pretty easy decision for us. The results were not what anybody wanted. But the decision was very easy. That pinch-hitter, Becker was in there to face the lefty Goldstein coming up. They pinch hit for him because Jordan hits lefties at a .333 clip and he hits righties at a .212 clip. So it was very easy to go from the lefty to the righty there. But we didn’t make a good pitch, obviously. He hit the ball out of the ballpark.”
On what they try to do to get that one out in the eighth when mistakes build up
“Well, you’ve got to throw strikes at the end of the day. We had a two-run lead in the eighth inning. Can’t walk guys, it’s pretty simple. You can’t walk guys in that situation. If you don’t walk guys and you make them put the ball in play, your defense is going to get outs for you. You can’t start rallies for hitters that are that good. And we did, we helped them. They obviously took advantage of it. But at the end of the day, Garrett Gainey showed that you can get those guys out if you make your pitches. Just didn’t make pitches as much when he came out of the game.”
On Gainey’s start and if he thought he’d have to use six pitchers to get 11 outs after him
“No, I didn’t. The plan was Gainey, Veach, and then Eskew. Eskew, obviously, last time he pitched on this field he shut out Kentucky. And so, I’m surprised how today went. But Gainey did his job, that’s exactly what we thought we would get out of him. 80 pitches was his pitch count because we have to work him up as we get towards regionals so that he’ll be a 100-pitch guy for the regionals. But you can’t snap your fingers and have that happen overnight. Veach came in and only gave up the one earned run, minimized some damage. I liked where we were at that point. Again, we had a guy coming in the game with a two-run lead and two innings to go that had thrown a shutout against Kentucky. So it just didn’t work out.”
On if he has to rethink his pitching plans heading into next weekend
“Well, we saw that Gainey is now probably going to be one of our starters. So we’ll continue to make adjustments on the fly if we have to. The trick is to try to figure out what you’re going to get. We’ve got a lot of talented guys, but they’ve given us ups and downs. The trick is trying to figure out which one you’re going to get on any given day. And that’s what makes it harder. When you have more consistency, it’s easier to lay out how the pieces fit together. When there’s inconsistency, it makes it harder. You’ve just got to hope that you make enough good decisions and you get the good rather than the bad.”
On the decision to bunt after Ethan Petry’s go-ahead double in the seventh with no outs
“Try to get another run. It’s pretty simple. Blake’s been getting on base a lot via the bunt. He’s a multi-dimensional player. He’s a speed guy. I think at least one more of our rallies was because of his bunt. Bunt for hits and creating some chaos there. That’s a big part of his game, which is why he’s in between Petry and Messina. Again, that was an easy decision. But we just didn’t get him in after that.”
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On what he chalks up the pitching staff’s struggles all weekend to
“Probably all of the above. All of the above. We walked too many guys. But again, Gainey showed that you can get it done against them. That’s a really good offense, maybe the best we’ve seen. And I’d have to say right now, it’s the best we’ve seen. I know we have a good Tennessee club next week. But this is the best we’ve seen in our ballpark. And we’ve had Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M. We’ve had a lot of great teams in our ballpark. That was the best offense we saw all year by far. We just have to rise to the challenge better than we did this weekend.”
On what good you take away from this weekend or if you wipe the slate clean
“That’s what you have to do, you have to wipe the slate clean. Again, as I had mentioned to the team, we’ve had some really high highs and this was a low low. That’s the first time we’ve gotten swept this year. Again, I thought we were going to win the game going into the eighth inning. I thought it was going to be another one of those where, ‘Okay, we’ve found a way to keep our head above water, and we’ll just move on. And the RPI stays in the top 12. We’ll be fine, look at the big picture.’ But those last two innings were a nightmare. We’re going to have to handle it properly. I asked anybody in that locker room if anybody was ready to quit. Do you think the season is over? The answer obviously is no. We’ve got one more regular season series then we’ve got the tournament and then we’ve got the NCAA Tournament. At the end of the day, the big picture is, the goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament and then get hot for five games and find your way to Omaha. All of that is still ahead of us. But this is a gut punch this weekend that our guys have to learn how to handle and respond properly to.”
On why it took until now to start Gainey
“We’ve thought about it but again, he was doing such a great job finishing games. You’ve got to start a game but you also have to be able to finish a game. And again, the challenge has been who can do this role, who can do that role? We had been thinking about it for awhile. And as you know, Matt was his pitching coach at Liberty last year. Matt’s opinion was that for now, at least the first half of the season, he liked him better in this role than he did as a starter at Liberty. But we got to the point obviously now where it’s a pretty easy decision that we need starters. Now we’ve just got to find the guys that can slam the door shut after he comes out of the game.”
