Everything Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's 7-2 win over Ole Miss on Friday

South Carolina head baseball coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media following the team’s 7-2 win over Ole Miss on Friday. Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening statement

“Obviously, [it was] great to win today – our first SEC series win of the year. [We] still got some work to do tomorrow, but, more than even just winning these games and winning this series, [I’m] just so proud of our pitching, the way that we have bounced back and competed all week.

“We had a shutout in the midweek; we’ve pitched great these past two games. This guy to my right [Jake McCoy], he competed as hard as he can all day today against a really tough lineup. I thought Gavin Braland caught him well.

“We played great defense again today, made a lot of great plays in the infield. They make look routine to everybody, but when there’s a lot of people in the stands, and you’re facing a top-ranked team, and your team is counting on you to make those plays, they’re difficult. And the kids have risen up. We’ve turned some double plays. We’ve done a lot of great things.

“And we’ve hit just enough. We had the lead there, and then they started to close the gap. And then, after Gavin Braland put down a clutch bunt, we got the big hit from Nathan Hall and broke the game open, which allowed us to save some of our bullpen for tomorrow, which was wonderful.

“But, again, just like yesterday, the story of the game was our starting pitcher. He gave us a chance to win the game, and I’m just really proud of Jake.”

On how strong starting pitching performances has helped South Carolina stay in games

“Even last weekend, when we couldn’t hold the big lead and whatever, I thought the pitching was doing a good job. It’s just the circumstances – the conditions, the outstanding opponent, and they’re playing at home… A lot of stuff can happen. But I thought we actually pitched pretty well two of the three games last weekend. A couple of pitches here and there have made the difference. But all of a sudden, now, we’re learning how make the big pitch, and we’re making the big play behind the pitchers.

“What a difference it makes. Baseball sure is a lot more fun when you pitch well and play good defense and get a few good hits.”

On the importance of gaining an early lead in the first inning

“If you fall behind, you have no choice but to not give up and keep fighting and so forth. But when you don’t have a lot of home run power, you’re now at the mercy of the “Baseball Gods,” so to speak. You can hit a lot of balls hard that are right at people, or they make really good plays behind them. It’s kind of worked in reverse – not that I don’t think Ole Miss hit a lot of balls really hard, but they hit a few.

“The ball that the kid hit with two men on – the last batter that Jake faced – when that ball left the bat, I thought it was gone. I thought it was a three-run homer, and we had a one-run game. It just kind of died there at the fence, and [Ethan] Petry made a nice catch. But that’s what happens when you’re on the wrong side of them. Those breaks go against you. So, that’s what makes it so hard to come from behind. If you can get a lead, you can still attack.

“Gavin Braland put down a huge bunt there. They were crashing from first base; he put it in the perfect spot. [Blake] Jackson put down a bunt, and it forced the pitcher to make a throw; he throws it high. If you’re losing, you can’t do that do those things. You can’t hit and run; you can’t try and steal bases because you don’t want to give away outs, because they’re so valuable when you’re behind.

“So, getting a lead and not having to dig out of a hole has been a really refreshing feeling that we’ve been able to [have]. But you can only do that when your starting pitcher goes out there and pitches great for you.”

On the pitching staff’s confidence after stacking up multiple strong starts

“Everything in baseball is contagious. It’s a confidence thing. Hitting is contagious, but so is good pitching. Brandon Stone was a great leader yesterday; Jake was a great leader today. This past midweek, all those guys that pitched – Jackson Soucie got us off to a great start, guys came out of the bullpen and did the job. So, it gets contagious. They start feeding off of each other, and they start having high expectations for each other.

“The thing about pitching, it’s not like softball. You can’t just use a couple of pitchers. You have to have a deep pitching staff. If one guy steps in and doesn’t do a good job, it reflects on the whole team. So, nobody wants to let the team down.

“I’m just really proud of the guys. I’ve beaten this dead – I don’t mean to keep talking about it – but I’ve been in this league a long time. The first five weekends were an inordinately difficult schedule for anybody, and the whole year, really, is an inordinately difficult schedule. We don’t have any breathers. Some of the other teams might… You could look at one weekend, and you might say they have breathers, three easy wins. We don’t have that.

“Just keeping the kids’ chins up and keeping them playing hard and keeping them believing in themselves is essential. I’ve said this many, many times: ‘A coach earns his paycheck when things aren’t going great.’ It’s easy to coach a team when you’re winning every game, and you’re so much more talented than the other team. But just to keep the kids believing in themselves and keeping their chin up is essential.

“And nobody’s given up. Look, we have a tough game tomorrow. I’m not taking anything for granted. We’re playing Ole Miss, for goodness sake. We’re not playing the Little Sisters of the Poor. But if we can have a good game tomorrow and win all three games in a weekend, who knows what can happen? We have four more weekends after that. I’ve been there before, and I’ve seen some miraculous things. We’ll see what happens.”

On South Carolina’s ability to make routine plays on defense

“I think we’ve played pretty good defense all year. Aren’t we fielding over .980? But in conference play, we’re fielding over .980, .985, something like that.

“These are not robots we put out there on the field. They’re human beings, and nobody’s perfect. Kaz [Henry Kaczmar], for example, went through a stretch where he didn’t feel really confident out in the field. Now, he’s making every play. We’ve always known [Jordan] Carrion and [KJ] Scobey are great; we know [Beau] Hollins is great. Kaz is being a leader, making big plays. We’ve made really good catches in the outfield. Last night, [Dalton] Mashore made a really great running catch into the wall in left field, down the left-field line.

“And I think Gavin Braland has caught terrific. You don’t notice your catcher when he’s doing his job. You only notice him when he’s chasing balls to the backstop all the time. Gavin’s caught great, and he’s done a tremendous job for a freshman.

“We’ve got three freshmen out there playing in the infield. There aren’t, as far as I know, any SEC teams doing that. So, all this is going to pay off for us in the long run – beyond this year, as well.”

On the Gamecocks’ new uniforms

“I do [think they’re sharp]. The players want to wear them again tomorrow. So, [Assistant Director of Olympic Sports Equipment Operations] Jamie Karl said he’ll stay up late and do the laundry so we can wear them again tomorrow.

“I think it’s a pretty clean, nice look. I like them a lot. And the players were all asking to wear them tomorrow. Hey, we’re undefeated in them.”

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