Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's 16-11 win on Saturday

Following a 16-11 win over Morehead State on Saturday, South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media after the game. Here’s everything he had to say.

Opening statement

“Well, it looked like it was going to be a walk in the park there for a little while. Got a little interesting. Wanna keep everybody involved in the game for a long time watching the game, you know. So, actually, I think it was the strategy for them to have to use Porter. We wanted to let them back in the game so that they’d have to use Porter out of the bullpen, their big middle man for tomorrow. (Sarcasm, FYI).

“Obviously, it was a good win. Played great early in the game. And I’m just wondering how much that long inning affected Jake. He was so dominant early in those first three innings. And then after we had the big inning, which lasted, I don’t know how long, he wasn’t quite as sharp going out there in the fourth inning and gave up some hits. But you got to give credit to Morehead State. They really swing the bats. They recruit hitters to their ballpark. They’ve got power, and they just never quit. We hung in there and found a way at the end. The last three innings of the game, we had great relief pitching between Zach Russell and Parker Marlatt. And we did what it took to win. I’ve been in a lot of games like this in my life, so just finishing the day with the win is a good thing.”

When the lead dwindles down there, did you have any message for the guys to keep them in the right mindset?

“Not really. The kids work hard every day, and I put in reserve players, and all those guys have started games or been key guys for us. So, I really was more concerned with our bullpen stopping them. That was the big concern because they have some good hitters that just were tough outs. Especially with the wind blowing the way that it was, you know, you’re worried about just a pop-up floating out with a couple of guys on base. We kicked a couple of balls. That was a concern. We had a double play ball that could have ended the inning. We had a line drive that could have ended the inning. We didn’t make those two plays. So that was a little discouraging.

“But at the end of the day, you got to maintain your poise and composure and believe in your guys. Finally, Zach Russell came in and gave — we got a little fortunate because of the line drive off of his calf. He sacrificed his body to get us the out, and Jordan came in and made the play on the ball. And then Marlatt came in and was just outstanding for two innings. So, listen, I’ve coached a lot of games in my life, and this is not unusual to happen. It’s happened before, and we’ve lost games. So we held on for the win. And unfortunately, we had to use a little bit more of our bullpen than I wanted to. But at the end of the day, like I said, we’re going to go home happy and get ready for tomorrow.”

With the substitutions in the fourth, I’m guessing that was just to get those guys in there. But when the lead is going down, are you like, ‘Man, I wish I had Nathan Hall and Ethan Petry in the lineup’?

“Well, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was wishing that they were still in the game. But at that point, it was 12-1. They were throwing some relief pitchers that didn’t look like they were going to be able to stop us. And I thought it was going to end up being a seven-inning game. It had the makings. And I wanted to get some guys in the game. I’ve been working with Cayden Gaskin out in centerfield, and I wanted to get him some innings and a couple of at-bats. Nawrocki, I wanted to get him in the game. A few guys I wanted to get into the game, but like I said, outside of Cayden, I think all the others have been starters for us. And so I felt confident. And Jordan Carrion has played third base for us. Jordan didn’t make that double play ball, and Tippett missed the line drive. Those are veteran players for us, so I wasn’t nervous about having them in the game.

“I was just concerned that, whether our bullpen could stop them because they were just really hot at the plate. When they brought in Porter, like he’s been a starting pitcher for them, he started on when in Wednesday’s game, I figured that they would bring him back out of the bullpen on Saturday or Sunday. And when they got close, it was a good move on their part to bring him in. He was a challenge, you know, he’s 90-91, and a decent slider. So it was a little bit of a challenge for our hitters. But we scratched a couple across there that I thought made us breathe a little bit easier there the last couple innings.”

You guys have been so clean for such a long stretch of the season. The last four games haven’t been quite up to your standards. Are you seeing anything out of the guys, or have y’all done anything differently?

“No, it’s just baseball. They’re human beings. We work on defense every day and emphasize it every day, and most days they play good defense, but occasionally they’re going to make an error. I don’t know what our fielding percentage is, but I’m sure it’s probably .975, or something like that, which is nothing to be ashamed of. But with that said, yeah, we’re going to need to play good defense as we go forward. Because, even though Jake struck a lot of batters today, and he always has, you know, Eskew is not really a strikeout pitcher, even though Brandon Stone struck out nine yesterday, he’s always a sinker ball guy that’s going to get a lot of ground balls, so we’ve got to tighten it up a little bit. There’s no question about that.”

Did you have any thoughts of maybe taking Jake McCoy out, considering where the game was at going into the fourth?

“Well, no, because I didn’t want his endurance to go backwards. Next weekend, we’ve got Oklahoma, and I want him to be able to pitch deep in the game, be able to throw a lot of pitches like a starting pitcher would. And I think he was only at about 50 pitches after three innings or something. So I didn’t want to take him out then. But that inning not only was a long because we scored a lot of runs, but then their pitcher had to come out of the game. Remember, he got hurt, and they didn’t have anybody warming up, so there was a long delay. I actually went back. Jake goes back to the tunnel between innings. He doesn’t stay in the dugout, but I went back to talk to him and said, ‘Do you want to get outside and play some catch?’ And he told me he didn’t. But I’m wondering now if maybe it would have been, I should have forced him to play a little catch, to stay a little bit more loose. I haven’t talked to him or Terry about whether or not the long inning had an effect on him or not. I’m just looking at it in retrospect and thinking it probably did.”

You’ve talked a lot about how much you like Beau Hollins’ defense. But with him being a switch-hitter, how much does that make you comfortable putting him in the lineup any day?

“I don’t know if you remember early in the game when Beau had a really great at-bat right-handed where he fouled off, seemed like 10 pitches with two strikes, and then he ended up flying out to center, but advanced the runner to third base with the out, a productive out with nobody out on the scoreboard when he did it. So it was a great battle for him. And then he gets the big hit for us in the eighth inning batting left-handed. So, yeah, being a switch-hitter is a great advantage in a lot of ways, as long as you’re good both ways. And Beau’s been doing a really good job. I mean, he’s earned this playing time, I promise you. It’s not handed to him.”

Discuss South Carolina baseball on The Insiders Forum!