Mainieri not concerned after seeing South Carolina win tight midweek games: 'That's baseball'

Paul Mainieri learned a long time ago to not worry about being in close games. He can remember during his early years at Notre Dame, the Irish won 1-0 in a one-off midweek game. He wasn’t too happy with their performance.

After that game, he called his father, Demie Mainieri, still upset that his team didn’t play better. Demie, who won 1,012 games in 30 seasons as the head coach at Miami-Dade North Community College, gave some advice to his son that changed his viewpoint on winning baseball games.

“I remember my dad vividly saying to me on the phone, ‘Hey, don’t ever be upset about winning close games, because you’re better off having those kind of games, because your team will grow from it,” Mainieri said. “‘They’ll learn how to be composed and poised at the end of the game. Down the road when they need to win that close game against a really tough opponent, they’ll have been there and have done that, and that makes their confidence even that much better.'”

So when South Carolina found itself in a pair of tight games against Winthrop and Queens earlier this week, Mainieri, now in his 40th year of coaching, showed no panic or concern. The Gamecocks won both games with clutch hitting and good pitching performances in the later innings. It wasn’t pretty at times, but they’ve done something right to start 5-0 this season.

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But it’s the same as when any team goes down to the wire with a lesser-known opponent. The overreactions start to ensue. If it’s not a run-rule victory, it’s not good enough for some who expect complete domination.

“First of all, to think that you’re just going to blow out everybody is very disrespectful to your opponents. I would never even think that way,” Mainieri said. “I tell our players every game, you go into the game assuming it’s going to be a one-run game, and you’ve got to do the little things that it takes to win. Some games, you might get a good lead, and you build on it, and it works out to be a one-sided victory. But many of the games aren’t like that.”

In Tuesday’s win over Winthrop, it took some good two-out hitting for South Carolina to snatch the lead in the fifth inning and hold on for a 5-3 road win. The next day, the Gamecocks were back in another close affair, leading by a run in the bottom of the eighth. They were able to score four runs to pull away to a 7-2 win over Queens.

“That’s baseball. That’s the way baseball works,” Mainieri said. “It’s a very humbling game. So when we end up holding on to a lead or winning a close game, I think it’s wonderful.”

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When he’s able to win in blowout fashion, Mainieri admitted it makes things less stressful for him. South Carolina will have those types of wins this year, especially as the weather warms up. But he made an interesting point: What do you get out of beating a team down other than the satisfaction of being in the win column?

“I don’t think you judge a team’s ability to win based upon how they blow out what people would perceive to be a far inferior opponent,” Mainieri said. “I don’t really want to blow out teams. I don’t want to embarrass them, and I don’t want our players to think all they have to do is throw their gloves out on the field and they’re going to win anyway.”

If anything, these early midweek wins have only done more good than bad for the Gamecocks. When SEC play begins next month, every game will be a tough battle till the end. So in hindsight, it’s only helping South Carolina prepare for what lies ahead.

“I think you gain more from eking out a tough victory,” Mainieri said. “… So regardless of whether it’s a midweek opponent, non-conference, you play the game the same way.”

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