Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's 5-3 loss to Clemson on Friday

Following a 5-3 loss to No. 13 Clemson on Friday, South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media. Here’s everything he had to say.

What did you like out of Brandon Stone tonight, giving you guys so much-needed relief there to save the bullpen?

“I thought Brandon stone was awesome. Even if we’d had tied the game or taken the lead, I was gonna leave him in the game. He was just in a great rhythm out there. At one point I looked up at the board, he had thrown, I think 40 pitches, or 40 strikes and nine balls. I mean, that was pitching. He was awesome. It was unfortunate, you know, he tried to get ahead of that one kid, and the kid put a good swing on it and hit the home run. But he really pitched great and gave us a chance.

“We came real close. I don’t know how much closer you can come to tying up a game than those last two balls we hit. I thought Kaufer’s for sure was gone. I had no doubt in my mind about it, and it just died right there at the yellow line. And then even Petry’s ball, I mean, if the kid doesn’t catch it, it probably hits halfway up the wall. I mean, it came about as close as we could to tying the game or even taking the lead.

“I thought our kids were a little nervous tonight. I tried to have them as loose as they could. But for a lot of them, this is the first time to play in an environment like this. And I thought the first few innings, we didn’t play the game, do the things that we’ve been doing, and we dug ourselves a hole there, down four to nothing. But then, of course, Talmadge came through with a really big hit there, and we got right there. We were right there. And then we had a couple opportunities and just couldn’t cash them in. Thought it was a tremendous ball game. Fans certainly got their money’s worth tonight. Tomorrow’s a new day.”

Keep up with all things Gamecocks for just $1 for 7 days—lock in this special offer today!

Can you just speak on experiencing the Carolina-Clemson rivalry for the first time tonight?

“Yeah, it was everything everybody told me it would be. (Clemson) had a wonderful crowd. It was intense baseball. I didn’t think we played our best game. We were in a position to be able to pull it off but just couldn’t pull it off. But the atmosphere was great. I’m looking forward already to tomorrow and the next day.”

What did you see from Matthew Becker in the early innings tonight?

“He was just missing. He hadn’t walked the batter in his first two games. How many walks did he have tonight? *Reporters say five* He was just missing with a lot of pitches, and he wasn’t able to land his curveball consistently. They got a few hits off of him. I mean, he’ll be better next week for sure, and he’ll learn from this experience here tonight. He fought hard. After giving up two in each of the first two innings, he still gave us a shutout inning in the third. But when he walked the leadoff hitter in the fourth inning, I was just going to let him face the next left-handed hitter, and that was it. He kept us in the game, and especially after we scored the three runs, that was a big shutout inning to throw up there. But he’s better than what he showed tonight, and he’ll be better next time. I’m sure.”

On the decision to pinch-hit Max Kaufer for Jase Woita in the sixth inning

“Well, Kaufer has been swinging the bat so great. Oh my gosh. The other night he hit a home run, and he had unbelievable at-bats, even drawing walks, and he’s been hitting like that every day in practice. He came back from Christmas break like a different cat. And look how close he came to tying up the game there in the last inning. I just thought if they brought the lefty in, that was going to be a situation for him. And I had been planning on it all night, that if a big situation came up and they brought in a lefty, Kaufer would be the guy off the bench. And kid made a couple of good curve balls, and he took them. And unfortunately, he just never really gave him anything good to hit. It wasn’t a really good at-bat, but his last at-bat came within inches, really, of tying the ballgame for us.”

Did you feel like they settled in a little bit more towards the end of the game?

“I thought so. They settled down a little bit. And I think when Talmadge came through with the big double, it loosened us up a little bit. And then Stone held them at bay, but we still didn’t capitalize late in the game. That’s going to happen in baseball, you know, sometimes you’re not going to come through. But my concern earlier in the game was little things that you wouldn’t all even have noticed in the press box, you know, just where guys were lining up and the way they were reacting to certain things. I could tell that they were just a little bit nervous at the beginning. And at the end, they were playing much more like they were capable of playing. And I think tomorrow we’ll play a really good, solid game.”

On facing Clemson reliever Lucas Mahlstedt for three innings and if that helps South Carolina having already faced him in this game for later in the weekend if he pitches again

“It’s a unique delivery. The last two outs of the game were pretty loud outs. They were inches from home runs. So I think it helped to see him. He’s tough on right-handed batters. There’s no doubt about that. But the two right handers at the end hit those balls pretty hard. So I assume he’ll pitch again. It probably will be of our benefit to have seen him once.”

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

Thoughts on Clemson’s new visitor’s bullpen set up being in foul territory and right next to where fans can be right near the pitchers

“Yeah, that’s unique. I mean, I don’t think there were any incidents. I didn’t know of any. It’d be nice if they had, I don’t know if they even had security down there or not, but, you know, it’s unique. It’s different. It’s part of the game. If the fans are here and they’re being, you know, I don’t want to say nice, but you know what I mean, that unruly, where they’re throwing things or stuff like that, then it’s part of the game. We expected that our players would get razzed on some and they didn’t let us down with that from that aspect.”

If you take us through the conversation with the home plate umpire there in the ninth during Blake Jackson’s at-bat?

“Blake thought he hit the glove, and it was catchers interference. I heard two noises, but Greg (Street) thought maybe, if anything, it was a foul tip, which the ball was then caught. It was a strike anyway, but Blake thought it was, and I did too. I thought it was a catcher’s interference, but it was a very minimal one, if it was. So it worked out. Blake got hit by a pitch, so we got the tying run to the plate.”

Discuss South Carolina baseball on The Insiders Forum!