Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's series loss to Mississippi State on Sunday

Following a 6-0 loss to Mississippi State on Sunday, South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media. Here’s everything he had to say.

Opening statement

“Hard to win a game when you get two hits and don’t score any runs. They threw great arms at us and pretty much dominated the game. How many strikeouts did we have offensively? 13. I mean, they just totally dominated us at the plate. We had two bad innings, one significantly bad inning on the mound and in the field. And it was a difference in the game, really. But if you only get two hits and don’t score any runs, you can’t win. And that’s the bottom line, quite frankly. The guys that they threw, both pretty good power arms. I’m kind of surprised that they haven’t been more dominant on the mound after watching those guys throw today. But hey, one game. We’ve got to move on.”

Did you feel like your hitters were giving competitive at-bats today?

“A few did. Yeah. KJ Scobey smoked a couple of balls that, if this were yesterday, they would have been long home runs, but obviously, the air was heavier and the wind had shifted. I wish he had hit them yesterday. They would have certainly been gone. But I mean, Nate Hall’s first at bat and (Blake Jackson’s) last at-bat there, although it wasn’t probably a prudent idea to try to stretch it into a double when you’re losing by six runs. But Blake hit that ball hard. We didn’t have enough competitive at-bats to make a difference. That’s for sure.”

After the solo home run to begin the fourth inning, there was that double, close play at second on the throw from Hall. Did you give any thought to challenging there?

I think we just thought he was safe. I took a poll of our staff, and everybody thought he was safe. So there was no use to trying to challenge. What, did the replay show he was out?

It just looked like a really close play there, and you’ve been pretty good with your challenges

“Well, you’ve got to be careful, you know, because, especially early in the game, in case you need them later. But what I usually do is take a quick poll among my staff, and everybody thought he was safe. I couldn’t tell.”

How did Matthew Becker bounce back for you today?

“Yeah, I thought Becker threw really well. Real proud of him. The plan was to hopefully get four or five innings out of Brandon and then go to Becker with all the left-handers. The amazing thing is that the right-handed hitters gave Brandon the most trouble today. I think in that inning, it was a double by a left-handed hitter, but most of the hits were by right-handers. And typically, he’s more dominant on the right-handed hitters, and we kind of hold our breath against the lefties. But he was getting the left-handers, for the most part, to roll over, and then the right-handed hitters just hurt him. He just left a couple of balls up.

“So by the time we got Becker in there, they had had four runs on the board. The first batter hit the ball hard off Becker and got the sacrifice fly. But after that, he was really outstanding. And the one run he gave up in the next inning, I wouldn’t call it a fluke, but the ball caromed off the wall in a way that Blake Jackson couldn’t get to it in time for the guy to score from first base. But I thought that was a big step in the right direction for Becker today. That was the highlight of the day for us.”

When you decided to start Brandon Stone, you mentioned facing a lot of right-handed hitters. How much did that kind of play into the matchup side of the decision?

“I just thought Brandon was, you know, he’s been a starting pitcher in junior college, and he’s gonna throw a lot of strikes. I just thought he’d get us off to a good start. And he did. He pitched three shutout innings right out of the gate. We just got a base hit to lead off the bottom or the top of the first inning, and we fouled off the hit and run and then had a couple of strikeouts and couldn’t get him across. But I thought Brandon pitched well for the first three innings. I mean, three shutout innings. In the fourth inning, he just left some balls up, and they did some damage on him.”

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Hall had a tough time out there with those two balls in the outfield. I know you were just talking to him a moment ago. What do you kind of say to him after that?

“Listen, the kid has played so great in centerfield the whole year. We’ve just become accustomed to him making those kinds of plays. He’s pretty upset at himself for not coming up with them. The one deep one, the runner still would have tagged and moved to third with one out. And you don’t know what would have happened, but obviously, it gave them, kind of an extra out. And then the sinking line drive, you know, he made an unbelievable catch out here yesterday. And we’ve just become accustomed to him making those catches. The ball hits his glove. He feels like he should catch it, probably. We all do because he’s a really outstanding centerfielder. But it just goes to show he’s human. And he just didn’t make those plays today, and it contributed to the big inning. But it wasn’t because of the lack of effort.”

Speaking of guys being human, Ethan Petry only has two extra-base hits in SEC play. That obviously is really tough for you guys. Is it more of something he’s got going on or the way teams are pitching him?

“Hard to say. He’s just jerking his head out on his swing. He just never really looked comfortable up there today. And I mean, the pitching, obviously, is a lot tougher in the SEC, but, you know, you want to play at the highest level. Those are the kind of guys you’re going to be facing. So hopefully he’ll get it going. We’re going to need him. I mean, it’s a lot of pressure on him. I know that. I’m not blaming him for anything, but you need to have your main guys step up in the big games. The SEC has the best pitching, and obviously, he’s had a little bit of a tough time.”

What’s Henry Kaczmar’s status after he came out following the hit-by-pitch?

“He got hit in the calf pretty good by a 96-mile-an-hour fastball. His leg just stiffened up. So we precautionary just took him out of the game. Hopefully, it won’t be anything long-term.”

Anything new with Dylan Eskew?

“So far, it’s moving along. We’re just going to have to see. I want to say he’s scheduled to throw a bullpen on Tuesday. We’ll see how that goes, and that’ll determine whether or not he’ll be available next weekend or not.”

Has there been any decision yet on Talmadge LeCroy with his injury situation?

“No. I know Nawrocki is seeing a doctor right now, and he’s got a decision to make. I don’t have an update on LeCroy right now.”

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