Mainieri explains recent pitching struggles and timing of mound visits

As a 10-run lead quickly trimmed down to one, Caleb Jones was an out away from ending Texas A&M’s roaring comeback. After Brendan Sweeney had given up a pinch-hit grand slam to Hayden Schott, Jones entered in the ninth inning and retired two of the next three batters.

The South Carolina right-hander was rolling right along and had the middle of the Aggies’ lineup coming up. Before Jones could lock back in, head coach Paul Mainieri made his way out to the mound.

Mainieri wasn’t making a pitching change but rather just talking to his pitcher. Although he did have left-hander Ashton Crowther warming up in the bullpen just in case.

“I just thought, Caleb’s out there competing like hell. He’s making all the good pitches that he can, and (Texas A&M’s) just tough,” Mainieri said. “So that was what I told him. I told him, you know, don’t just lay one in there for this guy, because, you know, this guy will leave the ballpark on you.”

When Mainieri headed back to the dugout and Jones stepped back on the rubber, his outing quickly crumbled before his eyes. He proceeded to walk the next two batters, with the crowd chanting after each of the eight straight balls he threw. He then served up a walk-off grand slam to Kaeden Kent as the Gamecocks suffered a disastrous 15-12 loss on Saturday.

Mainieri didn’t regret leaving Jones in when he had the potential lefty-lefty matchup at the ready. But that wasn’t necessarily the issue. It was more so him making a mound visit at a point when Jones was pitching well.

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Pitching coach Terry Rooney normally makes the trips and talks to the pitchers. Mainieri comes out when it’s time to make a pitching change. This was one of those rare cases where he decided to do it on his own. Whether or not it impacted Jones’ rhythm after just striking out a batter, he never looked the same once the mound visit was over.

That’s happened a few times this year. It seemingly threw off Matthew Becker’s outing on March 30 when he was one out away from getting out of a jam against Tennessee. He had just struck out two straight batters when Rooney came out to the mound. It led to an immediate two-run single in the next at-bat, ending Becker’s start.

So what’s the reason for the timing of it? Why not go out there when a pitcher is struggling and unable to locate the strike zone?

“I think it’s more to do with how (Rooney) wants to attack the next hitter in the situation that we’re in,” Mainieri explained. “Just kind of getting the pitcher to refocus on the next batter after he’s done well against the previous guy, and just make sure that he’s got his game plan for what he wants to do with that next guy. So it has more to do with strategy than anything.”

When it comes to the pitching staff, Mainieri trusts a lot in what Rooney wants to do. He said they talk about everything when it comes to making decisions. They’ve known each other for years. They worked together at LSU and Notre Dame, where Mainieri was the head coach and Rooney an assistant.

“I do what Terry wants to do, because he’s the one who works with those guys all the time, and he knows their strengths and limitations,” Mainieri said. “If he’s that convicted about something, it’s generally what I will go with. But if he’s not terribly convicted, then I go with what I think is the best thing. Most of the time, we’re on the same page.”

However, the results on the mound haven’t been good, with the second-worst team ERA (8.69) in SEC play. There are a lot of reasons for the pitching staff’s latest struggles. Some of it has to do with decision-making. But Mainieri is confident that he knows what he’s doing as a longtime veteran in the game.

“If there’s a regrettable decision, you know, I always analyze my own decision,” Mainieri said. “And people can second-guess them all they want, but nobody reanalyzes them more than I do.”

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