Everything Mark Kingston said after South Carolina's 6-4 loss to NC State

Following a 6-4 loss to NC State on Saturday, South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston spoke to the media about the game. Here’s what he had to say.

On Ethan Petry’s status

“No, it was not possible he could play tonight. He’s got a hairline fracture right above his pinky. And he was just not able to feel like he could swing the bat and hold the bat at a level that would allow him to hit. So obviously, we’ll wake up in the morning and reevaluate. But he was not ready to go tonight.”

On what went into the decision to bring in Connor McCreery first out of the bullpen

“Gainey was at 90 pitches. The plan was to go left right left. Connor McCreery’s left-handed batting average against was .111. We’ll take our chances with that every day of the week. We have a lot of information with the decisions we make. And we generally make decisions based on what gives us the best chance to win. And Connor McCreery coming in against a very left-handed hitting lineup with that kind of opponents batting average gives you a chance to win. Gave up a hit to the first guy, it just didn’t work out. But I don’t question the decision.”

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On pinch-hitting for Talmadge LeCroy in the ninth with Tyler Causey, who hadn’t played since April 20

“Yeah, good question. I would ask, do you know what the right-handed batting average was against that pitcher? .155. He owns righties, he just does. And so we had three lefties coming up with a righty in the middle and we wanted to give it our best look and our best chance we get. We’re going to have four lefties up there. Causey had live at-bats this week. We don’t just throw guys out there. They’ve been getting in work. He had live at-bats against pitchers this week in practice and in preparation for this. And again, you make decisions you live with them. As long as there’s good thought behind them, I can sleep at night.”

On how he feels about the pitching staff going into a spot where they need to win three games in two days

“Well, we play five games in five days last week. So it’s not impossible. As I told the guys, it’s going to be tougher now. It’s going to be a longer road, but it doesn’t mean we can’t do it. And if you don’t have that attitude, then you’re not in the right place mentally. Teams have done this, teams have come through the loser’s bracket, lost this game and still went on to win a regional. So that’s the only place I want our guys’ heads.”

On the Dalton Reeves’ throw down to third in the eighth that hit the runners helmet

“Well, we did everything right. Again, we walked the guy that had two homers to put first and third. As soon as we did that, we knew that they could potentially try some type of play. So we put the arm fake on. The guy bit on the arm fake and Dalton just hit the guy in the helmet. I mean, it happens. Everything was good except for the throw hitting the guy in the helmet. He bit on the arm fake, it’s exactly what we wanted. And it was just unfortunate that the throw hit the guy and they scored a run.”

On how the defense looked tonight

“We played great defense tonight. And again, I want to say how unselfish Cole Messina is that he was willing to go play first. I was really impressed with the way Reeves caught tonight. We had guys all over the place. How could you not commend what Dylan Brewer did tonight? Look, you’ve got a bunch of team guys that love playing together. Very disappointed in the loss, but I can go to sleep tonight knowing those guys were unselfish and gave it everything they had.”

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On if Dylan Eskew will start on the mound tomorrow

“I need to talk with Matt, I need to consult with him and make the decision that gives us the best chance. I’m guessing that’s probably where we’ll go.”

On the process of figuring out if Petry was going to play tonight

“Yeah, it was a matter of getting an x-ray, it was a matter of deciding is there any treatment that was possible to get him closer to being ready to play? And after going through that entire process there was not an option.”

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