Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's 5-1 loss to Clemson on Saturday

Following a 5-1 loss to No. 13 Clemson on Saturday, South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media in Greenville. Here’s everything he had to say.

What did you think of the outing from Jake McCoy today?

“Well, it’s really a shame we didn’t win the game because that was as dominating a game from a young kid as I’ve seen. I mean it. He was phenomenal, you know, through so many strikes, and he just kind of overpowered him, really. I don’t know how many strikeouts he ended up with. *12 strikeouts.* He was phenomenal, really. He was great. And it’s a shame that we couldn’t pull it off because you get a starting pitching performance like that. But (Ethan Darden) was equal to the task. We had a great chance there in the first inning with the bases loaded and nobody out, and we let him off the hook. Heck, I think they were sending somebody to the bullpen already that early, and we just didn’t finish the inning. Gave him a lot of confidence, and he threw a lot of strikes, and we just didn’t meet the challenge.

“And unfortunately, the game got away from us there in the top of the ninth inning. It was a heck of a game. I would have liked to have seen our bottom of the ninth inning with just down one run. But we let the game get away from us there. You got to take it and turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.”

Stay on top of all things Gamecocks for just $1 for 7 days—lock in this special offer today!

What did you see on the play at home plate where Cam Cannarella came around and scored for second?

“Yeah, well, it was a very aggressive base running maneuver by them. And I give them a lot of credit for that. Our third baseman (KJ Scobey) is a freshman, and so, you know, he’s not been in these kinds of environments. Once the ball is tapped on the ground, when he sees that the catcher is going to make the play, he needs to rotate home for us. And he just hadn’t — probably never seen that play before. I’ve never gone over it with him. It’s just one of those instinctive plays that you have to have. Instead, he was standing there watching, and obviously, the kid hustled around. It was good base coaching by their base coach. It was an important run.”

Only five hits in each of the two games. Obviously, you’ve been talking about needing more offense and needing more hits…

“Yeah, we’re going to have to find it from somewhere, that’s for sure. The bottom third of our order really hasn’t produced much at all. Even some of the guys up in the order have had a little bit of a tough time. The pitching we’ve faced the last two days is good pitching, and we’re gonna face a lot of good pitching the rest of the year. So we’re gonna have to find some innings somewhere. You just can’t get five, six hits in the ball game and no clutch hits. The only run we scored was a solo home run. So, it’s hard to win games when you do that. We had our opportunity right there in the first inning. Like I said, we let them off the hook, and it came back to bite us.”

What will you tell the guys to get them back up emotionally, try to win one game?

“We’ve talked about this from the beginning that you know every weekend, there’s so many scenarios that can happen. You can win the first game, you can win the first two games, you can lose the first game, win the second game, or vice versa, or you can lose the first two games. But I know in the SEC, every single game is important. There’s a big difference between 0-3 and 1-2. You’re going to lose some series in the weekend in the SEC, and we did this weekend with Clemson because there are a lot of good teams out there. And every game matters.

“Tomorrow’s game could matter in a lot of ways. Whether it has to do with an NCAA bid or a host or whatever. We don’t know. It’s so far away, but when you look back, you know every game really has significance. So we need to get our chins up and get ready to play tomorrow. Play at home, and hopefully we’ll play and hit better, and our pitching will continue to be outstanding. Our starting pitcher day was phenomenal, and Pitzer was good for a couple of innings and then kind of lost his command there. We tried to go in on the hitter, and he kind of eeked one through the right side there, and then he walked the batter. I should have had Marlatt up and ready to go. I was a couple of pitches behind there, so I take the blame for that. But we just got to bounce back. I mean, it’s a long season, every day is a new day, and we’re gonna drive home and evaluate it to ourselves, and then be ready to go tomorrow.”

Win tickets to Senior Day, South Carolina-Kentucky women’s basketball game

Why bring in Gavin Braland to pinch-hit in the seventh inning?

“Well, he’s been swinging the bat so well. He’s gotten so much stronger. There’s one thing about Braland that I know: he’s not going to get cheated. He’s going to get up there and get his swings. And I just was looking for somebody who would be very aggressive. Unfortunately, he beat it into the ground there, and they were able to turn double play. But he’s coming on; You don’t see him in practice every day like I do. And he had a really good preseason camp, hit a couple of home runs, and he’s gotten a lot stronger. And I think the kid has something special about him. It’s a tough situation I put him into. I will readily admit that, but he embraced it. He got his swing off, and unfortunately, he got into a double play there.”

When you don’t score in the bottom of the first there, how much steam does that take out of you?

“I would say so. The way the top of the first ended, we pitched out of a jam ourselves after a leadoff triple or two bases and an error, whatever the runner was at third. McCoy stepped up, and then Kennedy made a great play, and Talmadge made a great tag. And then we lead off the first pitch of the bottom of the inning with a booming double by Nathan Hall, and we draw a couple walks, and we got bases loaded, nobody out, and we just can’t hit. We didn’t get any runs. I mean, you’re not gonna get that many opportunities. You got to take advantage of them when you get them.”

Is Dylan Eskew ready for tomorrow, or is that third spot in the rotation still TBA?

“No, he’s going to pitch. Dylan will pitch.”

Discuss South Carolina baseball on The Insiders Forum!