Everything Paul Mainieri said previewing South Carolina's upcoming series with Clemson

As South Carolina prepares to begin a three-game series with No. 13 Clemson this weekend, Gamecocks head coach Paul Mainieri met with the media on Wednesday. Here’s everything he had to say about the series and more.

Biggest rivalry he’s been a part of in his playing and coaching career

“Well, my freshman year, I went to LSU and back then SEC baseball didn’t matter to anybody. Our head coach was the equipment manager for the football team. That’s no exaggeration. But when I transferred for my sophomore year to play for my father, he was at Miami Dade North Community College, and our biggest rival was Miami Dade South Community College. We didn’t like each other too much. So I’m kind of used to that kind of a rivalry, where it seems more than a game.

On getting to be a part of the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry for the first time

“I just can’t tell you how excited I am about this. I think it’s just awesome for the sport of college baseball. I talked to Ray Tanner for a long time this morning, kind of about the roots of the whole rivalry in baseball, how they used to play four consecutive Wednesdays or something. And then Ray talked to Jack Leggett about that and said, ‘You know, this is not the right way to do this. We need to play a series where everybody can pitch their best against each other.’ When you have a midweek game sandwich between Mississippi State and LSU, or, in Clemson’s case, they’re in between Florida State and pick a school, right? Once you fall behind in a game, you don’t want to use up all your top relief pitchers, because you got to have them ready for the weekend. So you don’t really get a true competition. I hate to say one team quit, but you end up with a blowout loss because you didn’t use some of your better relief pitching. So he talked to Jack Leggett about it and got this format changed.

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“I’ve never been involved in a format where you played three days in a row against the same opponent, but at three different venues. And I’m really looking forward to that. I think it’s really cool. Obviously going to play at Clemson is going to be the most hostile environment that we’ll be in until maybe somebody in the SEC. And then playing in a minor league ballpark, where, from my understanding, they might have 9,000 people or so at the game. I think that’s going to be really exciting. And then, of course, coming back here on Sunday after the women’s basketball game and playing a five o’clock game, pretty certain that we’re going to have a good crowd for that game. So I just think it’s wonderful for college baseball. I think it’s wonderful for the state. It’s going to be great competition.

“I preach to our players all the time that every game is important, you know, and every practice is important. You can’t just go through the motions in practice, or go through the motions in a non-conference game, and then expect to be able to play well in the big games. You have to approach every game that it’s really important. Every practice is really important. And the reason I tell them that is because then when the big games roll around, you don’t have to try harder than you do every day and do things unnaturally. Just play the game the way you know how to play it. Let the fans and the media and everybody else make a really big deal out of it. But for you as the player, you can’t try to hit the ball harder and throw it faster, run faster, you know, do those kinds of things, because then it gets you out of your game. But the truth of the matter is, there’s going to be a little extra pumping of the heart. The blood is going to be flowing, and everybody will be excited. I’m going to be excited. Look, I’ve coached a lot of games in my life, and a lot of big games in and out of the SEC, Omaha, and Super Regional, championship games, and everything. I’m as excited as I’ve ever been about baseball games as I am this weekend. I’m not afraid of it, and our players aren’t afraid of it. They’re embracing it. They’re looking forward to it.”

On what his weekend rotation will look like

“Yeah, it’ll be Becker on Friday, McCoy on Saturday, and then today, Dylan Eskew threw a really fine bullpen session, didn’t feel anything. So assuming he doesn’t wake up tomorrow sore or whatever, then he’ll pitch in Sunday’s game.”

On what having the last two games off has done for Talmadge LeCroy and how he feels about his defense as a catcher so far this season

“Talmadge’s defense has been outstanding. He knows how to handle a pitching staff. I think he had the one passed ball that he was so mad at himself about, but it was the only pass ball he’s had this year. He’s been blocking balls in the dirt. I think he’s been doing a really tremendous job behind the plate. And he’s hit a lot of balls hard, just hasn’t had much to show for it. But catching is a tough position physically. You get a lot of foul tips and balls in the dirt beating up your body, and that’s bound to have an affect on you with the bat a little bit. So I thought this was a really good opportunity to give him a couple of days off, let his body kind of heal a little bit. Hopefully, he’s going to come back really refreshed on Friday and play great. I don’t know what we’re going to do with the catching the whole weekend, you know, who will catch what games. But I know Talmadge will be catching on Friday, and hopefully, he’ll not only catch great but swing the bat.”

On if he’s felt the vibe of this being the nation’s best rivalry

“I mean, there’s a lot of great rivalries in college athletics. You look at football, Michigan and Ohio State, Texas, and Texas A&M. I mean, it’s hard to say, well, this is better than that or whatever. To the people that are involved in it, it is the biggest and best. Now that I’m wearing the garnet in black, I think it’s the best rivalry in college baseball, too. So yeah, I’ve never coached against Clemson. I’ve been to their field for high school showcases, recruiting-wise, but I’ve never coached in a game there, so I’m personally looking forward to it, too. We know Clemson has a really good team, and I like to think our team is really good as well. So the competition is going to be what, that’s what I love about sports is the competition. To see really good athletes go against each other, to play a little chess match with the other team’s coach, to see fans that you don’t have to convince them that it’s important.

“For most of my career, before I went to LSU, my biggest task was trying to make people understand that college baseball was important. But you come here, you don’t have that job. I didn’t have that job at LSU either. But to play a game, play a series against a team like Clemson, when South Carolina and Clemson get on the field, you don’t have to convince people it’s important. And I love that. I just love that people are so passionate about it. And I’m not afraid of it. I love it. This is what makes me get out of bed every day and come to work is this kind of competition. But I do think you have to say it, and I’m not downplaying the importance of these games are very, very important. But when these games are over, no matter what the results of them are, we’re gonna have a lot of baseball games left in this season. If we’re fortunate enough to win three games. I want our players to think, ‘Oh, well, we’ve arrived. That’s it. We’re at the top of the mountain. The rest of the season doesn’t matter.’ If we lose all three games. I don’t want our players walking around saying, ‘Oh, our season’s lost,’ because it’s not. If something in between that happens, you know, somebody’s going to win the series, somebody’s going to lose the series. But for the team that lost the series, for the team that won the series, there’s still going to be a lot of baseball yet to play.

“I think Ray reminded me one day that they got blasted by Clemson in a regular season game, and then beat them twice in Omaha to end their season. So that’s just a classic example that these are big games, or important games. They’re the best games we’ll have on our schedule at this point in the season, and we’re going to do everything we can do to win these games and give ourselves the best chance to win the games. But when the dust is settled come Sunday night, I’m going to turn the page and get ready for Davidson on Tuesday.”

On his scouting report for Clemson right-handed pitcher Aidan Knaak

“I’ve heard good things about him. He’s obviously got a good arm, and he’s a veteran pitcher, and he’s a real competitive guy. So we’re going to have to match his competitiveness. There’s no doubt about that. We’re going to go in there and be tough outs and make him work. When we get good pitches to hit, we can’t miss them. So he’s going to be a definite challenge, and then the two lefties will be a big challenge as well on Saturday and Sunday. Their bullpen is going to be a challenge, but I think our guys are going to be a challenge as well. So that’s what happens when you put two good teams on the field. You can break it down any way you want, but at the end of the day, it’s whatever teams play the best, compete the hardest, and come through in the clutch situations. But I very much expect them to be one-run games. And I know Clemson won the two one-run games last year. Let’s see if we have one-run games this year, hopefully,y we’ll have scored one more run than the other team.”

On if he’s seen any extra motivation from the players and coaches on South Carolina who have connections to Clemson

“I haven’t really talked to them about it. I mean, I’ve talked to Nawrocki and Hall after the game. I haven’t really talked to Monte too much about it, and I haven’t talked to LeCroy at all about it. But I just wanted to remind Hall and Nawrocki that everything that you experience in your life is what makes you who you are today, the good and the bad. Both of those guys had some really good moments at Clemson, and they had some disappointments at Clemson. That’s life. That’s the way life is. And I think they’re both outstanding baseball players. I’m glad they’re on our team. But the thing is, for them, I mean, I’m sure the fans are going to be on them, and who knows. They probably still have some friends on the team. But at the same time, they’ve got to keep their focus on what’s important. They got to be focused on hitting the pitcher, making plays in the field, running the bases properly. Whatever your experiences are, who you played for I should say, it doesn’t matter when the game begins. You still have to go out there and do the job. And I’m trying to keep them kind of level-headed to make sure that they just focus on doing their job. The best chance for us to win is for Nathan Hall and Nolan Nawrocki to play the way they’ve been playing, and not trying any harder than they’ve already been doing.”

Win tickets to USC-Clemson baseball (Sunday game in Columbia)

On if it’s normal for Dylan Eskew, set to start on Sunday, to come back in nine days after suffering a mild strain in his rhomboid

“Yeah, I don’t think it was a terrible thing. He must’ve changed his arm slot a little bit and put a little extra strain on a muscle in his back. But our trainer Corey Barton has been working so feverishly with him, really, to get him ready. And Terry Rooney, they developed a plan. The only reason I made the switch in the rotation was because of (Eskew) and us not knowing for sure if he’d be ready to pitch on Friday. I mean, today’s Wednesday, right? What if he had gone out there and thrown his bullpen and it didn’t feel good today? Now how am I going to get somebody to pitch on Friday if we had been doing something different with Becker or Saturday in McCoy’s case? So I just thought the easiest thing was to take a day less rest for Becker and McCoy.

“McCoy was disappointed when I took him out of the game on Saturday. And then I had to explain to him after the game that the reason I did it was because I didn’t want to stress his pitch count too much, knowing that he was coming back on one less day, so once he understood that. But I didn’t want to tell him before the game. I wanted him to be totally focused on the game. I wanted him to be mad that I took him out of the game.”

On if Ray Tanner has shared stories on some of the hotter moments in the rivalry. And (jokingly) if he and Clemson head coach Erik Bakich will want to fight each other

“I would hope not. Have you seen the way he’s built? I’m 67 years old. I hope he and I don’t ever have a disagreement about anything. Erik is good friends with one of my very good friends, one of my former assistant coaches, Cliff Godwin, who’s the head coach East Carolina. Cliff was my assistant at Notre Dame and at LSU. And even when I managed the USA collegiate national team, I took Cliff as my hitting coach. And Cliff always talked about Erik Bakich because they played college ball together at East Carolina, so they’re very close friends. So I just assumed he was a good guy because he’s Cliff’s friend. But I don’t really know Erik. I reached out to Erik this summer, talked to him one time on the telephone. It was very cordial.

“Listen, I love rivalries. I had a great rivalry with Ray Tanner when I was the coach at LSU. But we didn’t want to beat each other either. I mean, it was, it was good, solid baseball by two good teams, and it was wonderful. The places were always packed when we played each other. So I don’t think it has to be this person is a mortal enemy. I hope that our relationship will be good. But I’m not going to worry too much about it. The only thing I’m going to concern myself with is getting our team ready to play and go out and play the game as well as we can.

“It’s funny that you asked about Ray, because this morning I woke up and I was going to reach out to Ray to see if we could have lunch together tomorrow before we leave to go to Clemson. I thought maybe he might be able to give me a little insight. And he actually called me this morning before I ever reached out to him. So we did talk for about 45 minutes this morning. We’re still going to have lunch tomorrow and talk a little more about it.”

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