What South Carolina baseball coach Paul Mainieri said after win over Winthrop in first road contest
South Carolina baseball moved to 4-0 on Tuesday night following a win in Rock Hill over the Winthrop Eagles. Below is a summary of what Gamecock head coach Paul Mainieri had to say after the victory.
Win tickets to USC-Clemson baseball (Sunday game in Columbia)
–Mainieri knew this would be a tough game because it was his team’s first road contest, and Winthrop has a good leader in new head coach Mike McGuire. He thinks McGuire will do good things there both this year and beyond.
–Talmadge LeCroy’s clutch hit (2 RBI double to take the lead in the 5th inning) was huge for the team. Clutch hitting is how you win on the road. South Carolina scored all of their runs with two outs on Tuesday.
–Brandon Stone was great out of the bullpen. He held a better-than-advertised Winthrop offense at bay while the Gamecocks mounted their comeback. Stone is a gamer who outperformed his preseason performances against Winthrop. Mainieri feels like he could have pitched Stone even more because he got stronger as the game continued. He’s happy for Stone that he showed what he is capable of doing.
–Parker Marlatt and Brandon Sweeney pitched well, too. He wanted to make sure those two got important relief innings because he and pitching coach Terry Rooney are grooming them for high-leverage roles. Starting pitcher Jarvis Evans did some good things, too, despite giving up the big home run.
–He again shouted out LeCroy’s double and Stone’s relief outing as big reasons for the win.
–Coach Mainieri was happy with his defense again tonight. South Carolina has just one error through four games. The clutch defense and clutch relief pitching allowed USC to win and back up the clutch hitting.
Top 10
- 1New
Bracketology update
No. 1 seeds change in update
- 2Trending
Stolen cars
Carson Beck, Hanna Cavinder cars stolen
- 3
Texas football
Longhorns cancel spring game
- 4
CFP seeding
SEC, Big Ten make hopes clear
- 5
Clipboard smash
Auburn mocks Nate Oats over clipboard fury
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
–The game felt like a tremendous team victory. When multiple areas contribute to a win, it builds confidence for everyone. When the Gamecocks are in a position to start thinking about the postseason, looking back at successful team efforts like this one could help when the stakes are higher.
–Mainieri predicts that Winthrop will win a lot of games. He was impressed with the whole team.
–Talmadge LeCroy is a leader on the team. He hit some balls hard over the weekend but didn’t see the results. He had his moment on Tuesday, though. Coach Mainieri isn’t sure the team could have come back to win without him.
–The team hit a lot of balls hard on the night. In addition to LeCroy, Mainieri also praised Nathan Hall as he got robbed of hits on two good swings. The offense (and the team as a whole) is growing. Kennedy Jones is going to have a big year; his homer on Tuesday was a big deal.
–Ethan Petry got hit twice (once by an HBP and once by a hard grounder to first base). He’s a big guy, and he will be fine even though he took a beating. Dalton Mashore has been under the weather and wasn’t going to play at less than 100%. There has been no update on Eli Jerzembeck’s status, but he’s hopeful for an answer sometime this week. Mainieri also is unsure if LeCroy will catch on tomorrow, too, as he wants to digest Tuesday’s win before he thinks too much about Wednesday.
