Mark Kingston stresses importance of playing with 'swagger' during Gainesville Super Regional

South Carolina, in the words of head coach Mark Kingston, got its swagger back during the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament last week. The Gamecocks were riding plenty of momentum into Friday night’s game against Florida to kick off the Gainesville Super Regional.

Then, the weather hit, causing a lengthy delay before first pitch. The Gamecocks weren’t fazed, though.

South Carolina started off the night in strong fashion with a leadoff home run from Will McGillis to give the Gamecocks an early 1-0 lead against Florida starter Brandon Sproat. They tacked on another one on a Gavin Casas single to go up 2-0 into the bottom of the inning.

It felt like South Carolina brought the energy, and Kingston agreed with that assessment ahead of the bottom half of the third inning. That was also part of his message to the Gamecocks: play loose and have fun.

Oh, and maintain the swagger.

“We felt it last week, and I think so far, it’s carried over into this week,” Kingston said of the energy in the dugout. “You have to be loose to play well, and everything is born of being loose, having fun. That’s when you play at your best. So I tell the guys, let’s play with that swagger, let’s be loose, let’s have a lot of fun and see what happens.”

The lead was short-lived, though, as Josh Rivera hit a mammoth two-run home run to left field to tie things up. South Carolina didn’t miss a chance to respond, though, with McGillis brought home another run to put his team back on top, 3-2.

Still, the offense came to play against Sproat, who entered the game with a 7-3 record and a 4.70 ERA this season. Kingston acknowledged his team’s ability to score early on against Florida, and South Carolina has to keep it going to have a chance of winning Game 1 against the Gators.

“That’s an elite arm on the mound,” Kingston said. “We’re taking great at-bats, no question about it. We’re getting the pitch count up. We need to continue to do that.”

South Carolina entered the NCAA Tournament amid some serious struggles, losing 13 of 18 games to take a 40-19 overall record and a 16-13 mark in SEC play into the Columbia Regional. But the Gamecocks found their groove, sweeping the first round to advance to the Supers and set up a rematch against Florida. Remember, the two teams faced off one other time this year as the Gamecocks swept the Gators.

Kingston’s group is hoping for a similar fate this weekend in Gainesville.