Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's 7-3 loss to LSU on Saturday

South Carolina head baseball coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media following the team’s 7-3 loss to LSU on Saturday. Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening statement

“Well, I don’t really have much to say. We had a good win against the No. 1 team in the country two days ago and would’ve liked to have won a series. [We] competed hard today, and, for the most part, it was a close game. It’s just hard to win games in the SEC if you score four runs in two games.

“I knew we were facing two really tough starting pitchers. They were going to be a challenge, and they turned out to be. They just pitched well enough to hold us down, and we couldn’t quite pitch well enough to hold them down. That’s the story of the [last] two games.”

On what, with hindsight, Mainieri would have done differently this season

“Whenever there’s a transition, there’s a reason there’s a transition. So, you do the best you can with the players that you have, and you try to add to it with a little bit, like we did.

“We did the best we could. I thought we would be more competitive in the conference. I didn’t think we had a national championship-caliber team put together. But we, some days, got overpowered by the other team. Their pitching was just too good for our hitters, or their hitters were too good for our pitching. Consequently, we end up with the record that we did.

“I’m not sure what I could’ve done differently. We worked really hard last summer when we first got the job to add a few pieces. Some guys that we added did some good stuff for us, and some other guys that we added maybe didn’t perform at the level we may have thought they would’ve.

“The league’s tough; it’s unforgiving. We’ve already rolled up our sleeves and are working hard at recruiting for next year to try to make our team as best as we can and better than it was this year.

“But we still have the SEC Tournament, so I don’t really want to get into all that too much. We got a big game on Tuesday, and we’ll get ready for that.”

On the reason why South Carolina’s season went the way it did during SEC play

“We went up against players that were better than ours. I don’t know what else to say.

“The last kid [LSU pitcher Chase Shores] was throwing 99-100 mph. I don’t have anybody throwing 99-100 mph. Their two starting pitchers the last two days [Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson] had over 120 strikeouts. You’d have to add up three of our pitchers to get to 120 strikeouts. They got a guy that… How many home runs does Jared Jones have this year? 19. We don’t have anybody [with] better than 19.

“Sometimes, you just got to be honest with where you’re at and what you’re up against. The other teams are a little bit more powerful and [have] better arms than we have. And we’re just out there competing as hard as we can with what we have.

“I’m looking for positives. We did a good job in midweek games this year; we beat the No. 1 team in the country one time. We had, not a lot, but some games that were in the balance, and we just couldn’t finish them off.

“What can I say? We are what we are; we did the best we could. Now, we have the SEC Tournament, and then it’ll be time to turn the page and try to get better. It’s all we can do.”

On whether Ethan Petry will come back for the SEC Tournament

“I haven’t talked to him about it, but I’d be doubtful about that. He wasn’t even on the active roster for this weekend. That tells you how sore his shoulder was.

“So, I haven’t talked to him in the last day or so about it. I hate to keep just saying, ‘Hey, how’s your shoulder feeling? How’s your shoulder feeling?’ It’s not like, like that, it’s going to be a miracle. So, I’m doubtful that he would be ready to go.”

On whether Mainieri believes South Carolina has a positive story to convince players to stay

“Yeah. Hopefully, those few players that you’re talking about are all in and want to be here and share the vision that I have for the program. Certainly, kids who we’re recruiting are seeing the vision that I have.

“I’ve been there before. This season was very similar to my first season at LSU. And it’s a hard job. It’s tough to win games in this league, and people have to share the vision and believe in it and want to play a big part in it. I feel confident that we’re going to be able to retain the ones that we want to retain, and we’ll go from there.

“Again, I don’t really want to talk too much about it with the season still not having been completed, and I haven’t talked to any players. So, it’s a hard question to answer.”

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