Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina win over Georgia State

South Carolina baseball coach Paul Mainieri spoke with the media after the Gamecocks’ midweek win over Georgia State. Here is everything he said.

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Could there be a change in March for the weekend rotation?

“I’ll be announcing the rotation tomorrow morning.”

Talmadge LeCroy got pulled there after four innings. Any injury there or just want to get Kaufer some work?

“Yeah … we played Talmadge on Sunday. I really wanted him to get in for two games. And as I was preparing for the game, I was actually hoping that we would get a lead and be able to take him out after about four innings and maybe two at-bats.

“And he got a big base hit there, and he caught well, and I thought that was the right time. Plus, I wanted Kaufer to catch four or five innings because he’d probably be starting the game this weekend as well so I wanted to keep him sharp.”

How do you feel about this team right now, with SEC play getting ready to start?

“I feel really great about our team. I know we had the three losses against Clemson, but they were all three hard-fought, close games. I know there’s a couple of scores ended up not really being indicative of how close the games were. They were all one-run games in the eighth or ninth inning, and Clemson is one of the best teams in the country, clearly. Their ranking is fifth or something like that. So I told our team I didn’t really think we were quite ready to play Clemson in the third weekend of the season. We didn’t really know how to win, even though we had won some close games. But now I feel much better about our team four weeks in; I really do. I feel like we know what our best lineup is. We know what our best rotation is going to be. The guys in the bullpen, we know how to you know what roles to use them.

On an earlier question about Jarvis Evans Jr.

But you know, Jarvis will not be on the eligible roster this weekend. I say that, but most probably he won’t, because this is one of the few times in my coaching career, where I’ve had the the luxury of developing a fourth starter, and I really like doing that, you know, because, let me say this, I think the midweek games here at South Carolina are tougher than the midweek games were in my years at LSU. Next week, we play College of Charleston. The week after that, we play North Carolina. The week after that, we play Presbyterian, who beat Alabama the other day. And going down the line, we have tough games in the middle of the week. Plus, the other thing is, you develop a fourth starting pitcher, you don’t know when that’s going to come into play like in it might. You might, if you’re fortunate enough to be playing deep into the SEC Tournament, it could be a championship game. If you are in a regional, it could be a championship game.

“And so the last thing you want to do is start somebody hadn’t started all year, you know? And I think Jarvis is just kind of hitting his groove right now. He’s pitching with a lot of confidence. And these are big games in the middle of the week, you know, these non-conference games. I mean, obviously, the weekend games are the biggest thing, but I feel confident that with our rotation that we’re going to announce tomorrow, and with the bullpen set up the way that it is, we can be very competitive on the weekends.

“And if something were to change, you know, we could always flip-flop somebody if we had to, you know, but at this point, I don’t see that happening. I’m real confident, no, in the way we have it lined up and keep going forward.”

Talking about Nathan Hall

“I just think Nathan Hall is one of the joys of coaching for me. You know, you see a young guy that I believed have has athleticism and talent as a baseball player, just was raw. I mean, this guy literally didn’t know how to walk up to home plate and get in the batter’s box correctly. He didn’t know how to carry his glove running in from the outfield correctly. And, you know, you love to work with kids that you know have talent and they’re coachable, and they accept the things that you’re helping them with. Personally, I think we’re looking at a future Major League ballplayer. I think he could be a star in the major leagues. I really do. He’s, he’s what they look like. And he’s a great kid. He works as hard as anybody, and he just needed somebody to really believe in him, and I believe in him. You know, he proved early in his time in the fall that he was worth believing in and sticking with, and he’s done nothing to disappoint. I think he’s just going to keep getting better and better.”

What does it mean for Nathan Hall and Jordan Carrion to be heating up heading into SEC play?

“I talked about Jordan Carrion before in these post-game press conferences. Jordan is a great story because, you know, he was at Florida, he started there. He started at Florida State, and then he comes here. He wasn’t able to play last year, and I can tell you that nothing was handed to him last summer. I tried to convince him not to come back to South Carolina. I really did. We had too many guys on the roster. I didn’t think I’d have room for him, and he virtually begged me to come back and get an opportunity. And the kid was so passionate about it, I just couldn’t say no to him.

“And boy, am I glad I didn’t, you know, all fall he showed he could play any position that I put him at. And then, even before the season began I had a talk with him, and I said, ‘Look, you know, you’re going to be like that super utility infielder at second, short and third, but your attitude is going to be really important about how you handle it, because you’re used to playing a full game.’ And I said, ‘You have to embrace this role.’ And he assured me, ‘Coach, I’m happy to be here. I’m going to embrace whatever role you give me.’ He’s been the number one cheerleader and on the bench rooting for all the guys. I mean, everybody loves the guy. I decided to give him a chance to play a game, and he played so outstanding. I had to play him again. And he just kept playing well, you know, and it’s a great story of perseverance and attitude and how far your attitude can take you by being a good teammate and being patient and working hard and waiting for your opportunity and then taking advantage of your opportunity.

“So I’m, yeah, I’m happy that Jordan is playing so well. That was a big hit. He got tonight for us, and he turned double plays and, you know, guys spectacular defensively, and he’s a great kid. I just love him to death. I’m just so, so honored to coach him for a year. And then who was the other one? Nathan Hall — well, I already talked about that guy. It’s like a broken record me talking about him. I wish we had a few more guys as hot as both of those guys, and hopefully, they’ll be hot this weekend against Oklahoma. But this is a very humbling game. You can go from being really hot to really cold quickly and vice versa.”

What did you see from Matthew Becker out of the bullpen?

“I think he looked great. Terry was really trying to get him to land that curveball, and he just was barely missing. And the guy was laying off some tough ones. I couldn’t tell from the side how maybe they were off the plate too much for the guy to swing it. But, you know, for a game being the score that it was, it wasn’t really the way we would pitch typically, but we were just trying to get him to throw that curveball, you know. But I thought he threw good and threw just about the amount of pitches I was hoping he would keep them sharp for this weekend.”

How exciting is it to know about the or to think about these next 10 weekends and get into that 30-game (SEC) schedule?

“Yeah, well, I’ve always described the SEC baseball conference as the Major Leagues of college baseball. And the reason I say that is because the, you know, the bottom dwellers in the Major Leagues are still filled with Major League caliber players, and everybody in the SEC is filled with SEC caliber players. And if you don’t bring your A-game, you could get beat every single game. There is no gimmes in this league, and just like there’s not the big leagues, you know, the worst team in the big leagues can beat, you know, the world champion on any given day.

“So you just can’t look far ahead. You know, you have to take it one game at a time. And every time you have a chance to get a win, if you can get a win, you take a deep breath and go to the locker room and say, ‘That was a good one, you know. Okay, now let’s turn our attention to tomorrow.’ So you never go into any weekend ever thinking you’re going to sweep. You just got to take it one game at a time. You can’t think you’re going to win this series. You just take it one game at a time after you win one game, depending on how many games are left that week, and then you start thinking about the next goal. And if you think any differently than that, you’re a fool, really. Because this, this league, can humble you very, very quickly. And the answer to your questions, I’m extremely excited about it.

“JC, you asked that. Somebody asked that question. JC, but really this, this, if you’re faint of heart as a coach or as a player, you don’t come to South Carolina, you know, because you’re gonna play all the teams, the best teams in the country, not named South Carolina. You’re gonna play against the best players in the country that didn’t go to South Carolina, and that’s, that’s what you do. You challenge yourself. When I left Notre Dame to go to LSU, it was because I wanted to challenge myself. I came to South Carolina because, you know, I was bored. I wanted to challenge myself again. I was too young to lay on the couch and watch the games. I wanted to be in the middle of the fight.”

Several pitching changes today. Was that to get them reps and situational coming out of the bullpen?

“Yeah, it really worked out well. We started with Becker, getting him an inning, and then Crowther got a couple of batters, and then we, you know, we just brought in bunch of different guys.

“The only guys we really didn’t need to pitch were Marlatt and Pitzer, but we actually got them up in the bullpen and just let them throw a little bit of a bullpen to stay sharp. If we needed them, we would have brought them in, but, yeah, we got a lot of guys out there just to get them some mound time, and hopefully, they’ll be ready for this weekend.”

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