Justin Parker talks pitching strategy with potential doubleheader looming
South Carolina is no stranger to making schedule changes. So far this year, it has played in three doubleheaders and won all six games.
With the weather looking iffy this weekend, another twin bill might be played at Founders Park. The Gamecocks will face the Auburn Tigers.
At this point, Mark Kingston is used to the weather impacting his team, calling it “another piece to the puzzle.”
“It is what it is. We don’t control the weather, but we have to react to the weather,” Kingston said. “So if we have to play another doubleheader this weekend, we’ll do it. Hopefully we don’t. We all prefer playing one game at a time. It looks like the best day weather wise right now is Saturday. So if that’s what we have to target, we’ll do that.”
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One of the things that’s always worrisome with playing two games in a day is trying not to overuse pitchers. It’s a tough task to be able to map out who pitches when. In South Carolina’s case, pitching coach Justin Parker shoulders that responsibility.
While it would seem like Parker would look ahead and try to save arms, his strategy is different.
“When you’re talking about doubleheaders, the priority is to win the first game. Almost treat it like there isn’t a second game,” he said.
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And so far, his thought process has worked. South Carolina’s starting pitching has given enough length with all but one starter pitching at least five innings.
This has proved to be important on those long afternoons with more bullpen arms being available. But if push comes to shove, Parker feels confident using his relievers in any spot.
“We feel like they all have distinct strengths in spots in the lineup where it suits their stuff best,” Parker said.
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There’s certain guys, such as Cade Austin and Eli Jones, that Parker knows he can use more than once in a doubleheader.
“Cade is one of the toughest guys we have,” Parker said. “We’ve used him in a couple of different roles. … We know he’s physical and capable of going back to back days, we’ve done that with him. We’ve even used him twice in the same day on the double headers, and he’s been tremendous with that.”
“Eli Jones has been really good as a starter and has stepped up when his name is called, but I think the versatility allows those guys to be maneuvered around to get to the right matchups.”
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At the same time, Parker has to keep in mind that some pitchers can’t go the same length because of past injuries.
“I know we’ve done it but we’ve got to be a little bit more careful with Chris Veach. Got to be a little bit more careful with James Hicks. Those guys are coming off Tommy John in the last 18 months,” Parker said.
South Carolina begins its three-game series with Auburn starting Friday night at 7 p.m. The game will be on SEC Network Plus.
