Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's midweek win on Tuesday

Following a 5-3 win over Charleston Southern on Tuesday, South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media. Here’s everything he had to say.

Opening statement

“Well, I know it sounds like a broken record, but you know, after a tough way to finish the weekend series, a chance to win the series on Sunday, and we didn’t do it. But the guys came back and we did just enough to win today. Think our pitching was really good. Obviously, Jarvis gave us a quality start. Caleb came in and got a big out for us to end the inning. And then, even though they got to Crowther in the second inning, I thought he did a good job, you know, up until I had to take him out. And then I was just so proud of Ryder Garino to come in and get two big outs for us. And he hadn’t pitched in a while, but he really attacked the hitters and did a good job. And at the end of the day, Sweeney gave up a run, but got the last out before they tied or took the lead. That’s what the closer is supposed to do. So we’ll take the win and move on to the Gators.”

Do you have an update on Ethan Petry and Nathan Hall’s injuries?

“Well, Ethan’s situation is more debilitating than Nathan’s. He’s got what they call a strain of the AC joint in his left shoulder. It was such a freak injury, you know, if you watch the video of it, the ball took kind of a funny bounce. He was kind of ready to play it, and when it took that funny bounce, he kind of accelerated to try to field the ball and rammed his left shoulder into the wall. That injury is probably two to four weeks to heal, so there’s a good chance that he’s done for the year. But, you know, maybe he could get back for the last series or the SEC Tournament. We’ll have to see.

“In Nathan’s case, you know, remember when he hurt his heel at Texas A&M going after a home run ball, he whacked his heel. It’s never really completely gone away, and it probably won’t until he rests it completely. And this past weekend, Kentucky has an artificial turf field, and it’s particularly hard. There’s not a sand base to it. I worried about his heel pounding on that hard ground all weekend. And about two-thirds of the way through the game on Sunday, I could start to see him limping when he’d run out to centerfield for a new inning. So I wasn’t really surprised on Monday when he couldn’t run it all.

“We practiced on Monday, and he couldn’t participate. So I didn’t expect it to be any better or much better by today. So I almost put him in as a pinch hitter at one point, you know, just having him jog to first base, but the situation ended up not calling for it. He’s taking batting practice and everything. We just got to see how it feels over the next couple of days. Hopefully with a couple days rest, and then will be feeling better for him by Friday, and hopefully he’ll be able to play.”

With those injuries, do you feel like what you saw from your offense tonight with some small ball, run on a wild pitch, run on a bad pickoff throw, is kind of what it’s going to have to be the rest of the way?

“Well, I hope we don’t depend on errors by the first baseman. But Evan Stone came through with a clutch single, a two-run single at a big time. We had other opportunities, but we just didn’t cash in. And somebody’s going to have to step up. Tonight, Evan Stone did in one critical situation. We had other opportunities, and we just didn’t come through. But when you don’t have a lot of home run power in your lineup, you better come through with the RBI opportunities. And we did just enough today, because our pitching was really good. But on another day, if our pitching gives up seven or eight runs, it’s not going to be enough. So we’re going to have to figure out who gives us the best chance, and hopefully they’ll come through with some big hits for us.”

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