Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's walk-off win over No. 1 LSU

Following a 6-5 walk-off win over No. 1 LSU on Thursday, South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media after the game. Here’s everything he had to say.

Opening statement

“Obviously, anytime you beat the number one team in the country, it’s special. And I’ve said it many times. These kids deserve to have something good happen to them. Just watching the guy to my left here, KJ Scobey is a true freshman, playing through the whole year, starting every game basically. Just watching his growth as a player, and seeing now these last couple weeks, he’s really been swinging the bat great. He swung the bat well down at Auburn, you know, the game-tying home run today in the ninth inning. Don’t forget his sacrifice fly off of Noot when he came into the game. That was a huge swing, too. Scobey is developing into a really outstanding player, just like I thought he would.

“The guy to my right, Henry, I just couldn’t believe what a great game he played. I know he hit that triple. And what did you have two triples, I think? I can’t believe that ball didn’t get out of the ballpark that you hit. Head to the weight room after this press conference. But then, the great plays that he made as well. He just played a terrific game all around.

“It was just really an exciting night for South Carolina, for the Gamecocks, and for our players and staff. I’m glad the fans got to enjoy a really good win as well.”

Can you take us through what a release a win like tonight is for you after the season you’ve had here?

“Yeah. I mean, we’ve had a lot of tough breaks. Some of them were our own doing all year. But then, you know, Jared Jones makes an unbelievable play on the ball that Nate Hall hits. And you’re kind of saying to yourself, ‘Goodness, gracious. Can’t we get one little break here? Couldn’t the ball just bend a foot further out and then the game would have been over?’ But baseball is a hard game. I’ve said this so many times, sometimes it almost looks like players aren’t trying, but they really are. It’s just a really tough game, and it’s hard to win against college baseball teams. And I’ve known this forever, you know, I’ve been around so long, and I’ve never taken anything for granted. You’ve got to go out there and earn everything that you get. And you’ve got to get the best possible team put together. You’ve got to coach them right. You’ve got to motivate them. And then they got to go out there and they got to perform. And you’ve got to get some breaks along the way. It’s hard to win games, but anything’s possible.

“Today, we didn’t give up. Scobey, of course, comes through. His hit was a major part of the game. But there were a lot of guys who battled so hard tonight. I thought Crowther pitched his heart out. And then Brandon Stone did as well. He hung a couple of 0-2 breaking balls and gave up hits. But in typical Brandon Stone fashion, I just saw him after the game, and I was talking to him about how he’s got to bury that 0-2 pitch. He goes, ‘Hey, at least they didn’t leave the ballpark like they usually do when I hang those 0-2 curveballs.’ They were only singles, okay? How do you argue with that, right? But a lot of guys did a lot of great things tonight. It was a wonderful win for a program, for the city, for the team, for all of our fans. It really was. It was a special night for us all.”

You like a 3-0 green light, and Jase Woita hits that triple in the ninth inning. Did you tell him to swing?

“Yeah. It’s a 3-0 pitch, and I gave him an emphatic green light. I thought he might hit one out to end the game right there. And we’re starting to get towards the bottom of our lineup, too. So, I mean, I thought back to the first two innings of the game, we got five free passes with nobody out and scored one run with five guys getting on base with nobody out via the walk or hit batter. Somebody has to eventually hit the ball to get, well, unless they throw a wild pitch to end the game right there. You hate to count on that. You need to hit your way to victory. I just thought Jase had the best chance. He might with one swing could have ended the game. And it almost did, when he hit it. I thought it had a chance, and then we got a lucky kick off the wall, which allowed him to get the triple, which, you know, obviously, was huge. So, yeah, it was an enjoyable night. Tomorrow, the game will start, and it’ll be 0-0 all over again.”

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The SEC Network broadcast caught your reaction as the game-winning run was scored. They zoomed in on you, but you didn’t have much of a reaction. You watched it, and then you shook hands with a couple of your assistant coaches. Is that kind of typical for you?

“When I was a young coach, I was like jumping with every pitch, you know what I mean? But as the years have passed, I’ve learned to control my elder emotions a little bit more. I was excited. I was very happy for our players and for our team. But I also know there are two more games this weekend, too. I wanted to let the kids celebrate. They had a wonderful celebration out there. I was just kind of soaking it all in, if you know what I mean. I just didn’t want to be jumping around like an 18 to 22-year-old. I wanted to just kind of absorb it all. It was a wonderful win for our kids. So happy for them. It’s just not my nature anymore. I haven’t for years been a big jumper around and doing those kinds of things. It’s all about the kids as far as I’m concerned.”

You’ve moved the guys around in the lineup a lot this year, but putting Nathan Hall in the two-hole, Henry Kaczmar in the three-hole, what did you kind of like about the way that looked tonight, and then obviously led to the results you guys got?

“I just didn’t want to stack the lefties together. With Petry out, I wanted to play Blake Jackson, which I typically don’t against lefties. So if I had left Henry in the two-hole, then I would have had two lefties there. And besides the starting pitcher, I knew they had DJ Primeaux in the bullpen and Williams in the bullpen. I just thought it would have made it easy for them at some point during the game. So that’s why I put a right-handed hitter in between there. But I kind of like the way it looked, to be honest with you.

“Blake doesn’t get a lot of hits, but somehow he’s like a magnet to pitches that hit him, and he draws walks and gets on base. And Henry had a great game batting in the three-hole there with clutch hits. So, yeah, without Petry, you’re just trying to use some imagination to try to create situations that you think might happen later in the game and put yourself in the best possible position. For a while there, it wasn’t working. At one point, I was just worried about us getting no-hit tonight.”

You talked yesterday about moving some pitching around to get ready for Tuesday at the SEC Tournament. Is that why Brandon Stone didn’t start the game tonight? And with his 73-pitch outing, is he still going to be full go on Tuesday?

“Well, I would hope Brandon will be ready to go with four days’ rest. He’s a horse. He really is. I mean, he could throw all day long. But I thought Ashton did a really good job. And, no, I didn’t start Ashton because of trying to save Brandon. I was hoping Ashton could give us five or six innings, and Brandon only have to pitch three. But when I went out to the mound, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a pitcher so profusely perspiring as Ashton was. It must have been really humid out there, because he was sweating buckets.

“At that point, he was having trouble getting a grip on the ball because his hands were so sweaty. Plus, he was at about the 80-pitch mark, which is the most he’s thrown all year. So I just felt it was the right time to make the move. We had a chance. I think it was 2-1, but even though we were losing, it was early in the game. And I thought, hey, it’s our chance if we can hold them to have a chance to win the game. So typically, you don’t bring in your top reliever when you’re losing, but only a one-run deficit, and it was early enough in the game. And I thought Brandon did a terrific job. And then, Becker came in and got a big out for us there at the end. So, what a great win.”

Any chance Ethan Petry might play in either of these next two games this weekend?

“No chance.”

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