Mainieri's message to South Carolina fans after being swept by Clemson
The honeymoon phase is all but over for South Carolina and Paul Mainieri. Just a few days ago, things couldn’t have been better after starting 9-0 this season. Now, after Clemson swept a three-game series this weekend, the mood quickly changed.
It’s never good to be swept during the season. But there’s a lot more weight placed on how this series went because it came against the program’s in-state rival. It’s something not just the players and coaches but also the fans have to live with until the two teams meet again in another sport.
“I feel bad about it, believe me. I know how much it means to everybody,” Mainieri said.
Mainieri heard plenty from people about how important this series was going to be and what it would mean to beat Clemson. After losing the first two games, he worried fans wouldn’t show up to the ballpark for Sunday’s finale.
But any time South Carolina and Clemson are playing, people are going to be there. They did in Clemson and Greenville and again back in Columbia with a large crowd of 8,242 fans.
“They showed up. It was awesome,” Mainieri said. “I just wish we would have rewarded them with a win.”
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The reality of the situation, though, is this wasn’t a good weekend for the Gamecocks. It’s still early in the season, and a lot can change over the next few months. SEC play will also start in 11 days. And if Clemson looked tough, that’s the level of competition the team will face every weekend.
Mainieri was brought in to fix South Carolina’s problems and get the program back to where it hasn’t been since 2012. He’s only 12 games into his tenure in Columbia. But the fans expect to win now, and after losing this series, patience is starting to wear thin for some.
“I can sit up here and tell you how badly I feel for South Carolina people that care so much about what happens against Clemson. I feel awful,” he said. “It matters to me, believe me, as much as it matters to anybody else.”
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The longtime coach, who’s been through tough stretches like this before, understands things need to improve in a hurry. He vowed he and the team would continue to work hard to make sure the losses wouldn’t linger for long.
“I told our team that one thing that has been kind of a hallmark of my teams through the years is that we may have some struggles early, but eventually, we hit a stride and start improving,” Mainieri said. ” I want us to be a better team in April and May than we are in February and March. We’re going to analyze every aspect of it.
“… Hopefully, we’ll keep pitching well and playing good defense and doing the things that help us win games. And hopefully, we’re just going to keep getting better and better and better as the year goes on.”
Until then, Mainieri hopes the fans won’t lose faith in the team because of “a short-term failure” like being swept by Clemson. As he’s said many times now, there’s still a lot of season left with 48 more games. But the clock is quickly ticking to get back on course.
“We’re not going to give up,” Mainieri said. “I can just assure everybody we’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep working.”
