Midweek recap: What we learned from South Carolina's pair of midweek wins

Midweek games don’t usually have the same juice as an exciting weekend series might have. But they count the same as every other game on the schedule.

South Carolina (5-0) found itself locked into a pair of tight games this week but came away with two wins. The Gamecocks won a gritty 5-3 game on the road at Winthrop on Tuesday. They returned to Founders Park on Wednesday and won 7-2 over Queens on a frigid night with temperatures in the mid-30s.

Here are a few things we learned from watching the Gamecocks in their first midweek action of the season.

Wins are wins

Whenever South Carolina plays these one-off games during the season, there are always going to be some with a certain level of expectation. Because South Carolina is playing a random mid-major school, that automatically means South Carolina should blow that team out. But that’s not how baseball works.

It’s not like football or basketball where you know the better team is going to steamroll the lower-level team. Baseball is that one sport where nothing is guaranteed and it can be anyone’s day. Just look around college baseball and there have already been a handful of upsets.

South Carolina has had some weird midweek losses in the past. For example, the Gamecocks lost a one-run game against Francis Marion in April 2012. That year’s team, ranked No. 9 at the time, finished runners up in the College World Series.

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The point is it could be much worse. South Carolina may have been in two tight games this week, but at the end of the day, 5-0 is 5-0. It doesn’t always have to be pretty or a run-rule victory. And also, it’s not like these teams are bad. Winthrop and Queens came into these games with just as much of a chance to win as the Gamecocks did. That’s baseball.

When SEC play begins, you can expect a lot of gritty, down-to-the-wire finishes. That’s how it’s going to go more times than not. If anything, these relatively close midweek games where the team is finding a way to win in the later innings are only going to make them more battle-tested than they would’ve been otherwise.

Nathan Hall is a perfect tone-setter in the leadoff spot

Nobody has gotten off to a better start to the season for the Gamecocks than Nathan Hall. Through five games, he’s gone 9-for-18 (.500) with three doubles, a home run and six RBI. You can argue Ethan Petry, who’s tied with Hall for the team lead in RBI, has been better so far. But they’ve both been fantastic this year.

Hall, who transferred from Clemson, is exactly what South Carolina needs at the top of the lineup. He’s been an on-base machine with a .545 OBP and has only struck out once. So whenever he’s come up to the plate, he’s been putting the ball in play, which can lead to good things happening as opposed to the alternative.

After going 1-for-5 with an RBI double against Winthrop, Hall had a four-hit game in the win over Queens. He came through with a big RBI single in the eighth inning to give South Carolina some cushion and a two-run lead before three more runs came across to score.

Not only has he been hitting well, but he’s doing a nice job as the starting centerfielder. All of this doesn’t come as a surprise since he’s been nothing but productive since the fall.

This has the makings of a deep pitching staff

Like Paul Mainieri said in his postgame press conference on Wednesday, South Carolina doesn’t have a Paul Skenes on its pitching staff. But what it does have are numerous pitchers who have already shown they can come in and get outs. The Gamecocks might not have the big names that everyone already knows, but they have guys who do their job well.

It was another solid showing from the pitching staff after a tremendous effort on Opening Weekend. South Carolina had three pitchers toss at least three scoreless innings between Brandon Stone, Jackson Soucie, and Ryder Garino. All three have been excellent to begin this season.

Parker Marlatt pitched on back-to-back days and went 1.2 scoreless innings. Brendan Sweeney nailed down his second save coming at Winthrop on Tuesday. Even Roman Kimball got some action to close out the win over Queens by going 0.2 innings and didn’t give up a hit.

Jarvis Evans Jr. and Ashton Crowther were the only arms to give up runs in these games. Evans started against Winthrop and went 3.1 innings of three-run ball but had five strikeouts and no walks. Crowther didn’t give up a hit but he found himself in a jam in his second inning of work before Marlatt came in and gave up a pair of runs, both charged to Crowther’s final line. Both showed some good stuff in their outings, though.

When you get down the stretch in SEC play and enter the postseason with the conference tournament followed by the NCAA Tournament, this is where you’re going to need a deep pitching staff. You can’t make a long, sustainable run without that. All pitchers are going to give up runs at some point; that’s just how it works. But Mainieri and Terry Rooney have done an excellent job putting together a quality group of arms.

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Do you tinker with the lineup at all?

It’s early in the season and some hitters are going to struggle. Not everyone has been like Hall and Petry tearing the cover off the baseball. After all, this is a game where you fail more than you will succeed. But even though it’s only been five games, Mainieri hasn’t been afraid to roll out different lineups in some games.

He gave Jase Woita the start at designated hitter against Winthrop, which led to him having a 2-for-4 night at the plate. Then on Wednesday, he didn’t start Woita, but he made some more changes to the order. Dalton Mashore returned to the lineup and batted second after missing the previous two games. Henry Kaczmar, normally the two-hole hitter, moved down to seventh after going 3-for-17 through four games. Ryan Bakes made his first start at catcher and hit sixth, while Cayden Gaskin also got his first start at second base and hit ninth.

It’s not always going to be like this, especially once the season starts to heat up. But since it’s early enough, it’s never a bad idea to make tweaks and see what works and what doesn’t. If it’s like last weekend, the starting lineup should remain relatively the same as it was before. But it will be interesting to see if Mainieri makes any changes.

With Nolan Nawrocki hitting .333 to start the year, he should be back in the order at second base. If there were going to be any bigger changes, would it be worth moving Talmadge LeCroy down a few spots? He’s been serving as the five-hole hitter behind Kennedy Jones, but he hasn’t provided much protection. He’s gone 1-for-14 (.071) to start with three RBI and six walks. But again, it’s early and maybe he’ll go on a nice stretch here soon.

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