South Carolina pitcher James Hicks discusses his dream performance in SEC Tournament opener

South Carolina got off to a terrific start in the SEC Baseball Tournament with a 9-0 thumping of Georgia to advance on Tuesday morning and early afternoon. The nine runs were obviously a great sign for the offense, but it was the pitching performance of James Hicks that really dominated the ball game.

He’s a rare starter for South Carolina but put together a scoreless 6.2 innings of work in the first postseason contest of the year for the Gamecocks. That’s solid work on a day Hicks said afterwards that he’s always dreamed of.

“I mean, it’s something you dream of as a kid,” the South Carolina starter told the SEC Network crew after the win. “I mean, I’ve grown up watching this tournament all my life, and even though I haven’t started a lot of games, I just wanted to take the opportunity and give it my best, leave it all out there, and I think I did that.”

For Hicks, it was about settling in and developing a rhythm with his pitches.

“I feel like it got better as I went. I kinda got in a rhythm and it worked out for me. Got a great defense behind me, so I just them work,” he answered as he teammates began throwing various items at him from the dugout, prompting the broadcaster to compliment his focus both during the interview and earlier in the game.

Lastly, Hicks was asked how the team is feeling about their current play as the postseason gets underway. He simply said the vibes are good right now after they had to overcome some road blocks in the regular season.

"The vibes are great." @GamecockBasebll gets its first-ever shutout in the SEC Tournament 🤙 pic.twitter.com/Vj3u2kzhw8

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 23, 2023

“We feel great. All year, we’ve had a really close team and it’s a really tough team. We’ve dealt with some big injuries where a lot of teams would have just given up. But we kept fighting and going to work every day. We’re the closest team here probably. We all hang out and love each other, so we’re feeling really good, vibes are great.”

His teammate, Braylen Wimmer, also joined the postgame festivities and praised his teammate James for coming through in a big spot on the mound on Tuesday.

“Yeah, that was big. That’s my favorite guy that goes out there, because we always believe in him every time he goes out there, so it was good to have him back. We’re going to need him down the stretch for sure.”