Everything Paul Mainieri said after the South Carolina-Air Force scrimmage

On Saturday, South Carolina baseball welcomed the Air Force Falcons to Ray Tanner Field at Founders Park for a fall scrimmage. The Gamecocks won 18-3 in the 14-inning exhibition. Here is everything head coach Paul Mainieri said following the victory.

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Opening Statement

“Well, I thought we got a lot out of today, to be honest with you. I thought the guys were really enthused to be playing somebody with a different colored uniform. We have so much respect for the Air Force Academy and Coach Kazlauski. We just loved to spend time with them and, you know, we admire those kids so much because what they’re doing for our country…Our players understand the significance of who we were playing tonight.

“I wish we hadn’t even had a scoreboard on, to be honest with you. It was more of a scrimmage to work on things and develop the team. But I thought there was a lot of really positive things out there. You know, our pitchers walked way too many batters, gave up too many free passes. That’s something we’re going to work on. But on the other side of it, they pitched in the clutch a lot, got some big outs. We made some good plays, we made a big double play early in the game.

“We had an awful lot of clutch hits. I think we played 14 innings without any errors. Got a bunch of hits. Ran the bases really well, I thought. Really, a lot of really positive stuff came out of this effort tonight.

On Ethan Petry playing some third base

“You know, the fall is the time to experiment a lot. (Nolan) Nawrocki bumped his knee into a wall chasing a popup a couple of weeks ago, so we’ve been an infielder short. So, I thought about it, and Petry has been bugging me a little bit about wanting me to take a look at him at third base. He was telling that’s where he played before in high school and so forth…But he did it so well, I thought, well, let’s just keep doing it. Sometimes you find out things by accident. But I think he does a good job at third base. He just gives us more options.

“I’m not sure what we’ll do yet going into the spring, of course…I’m really high on KJ Scobey. He made a couple of really terrific plays tonight. He’s going to be a really good ball player for the Gamecocks. He’s only a freshman. This gives us some different options as we’re looking at some different things.”

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On the pitchers

“I think Terry Rooney has done a tremendous job with those guys. There were kids that we inherited that people told us, ‘Oh, he doesn’t have a change-up or whatever.’ Now, they’ve developed these pitches. I think Terry really has worked so hard with those kids, and the kids have obviously done a great job. And they’re improving. We may not have Paul Skenes out there—you know, that 98-miles-per-hour, dominating guy—but I think we’ve got a lot of guys who are going to compete favorably for us. You know, we’re just going to have to figure out how to use them properly. [We’ve got to] put them in the right situations so they can have the chance to be most successful.

“But I think there’s talent there. Tonight, I thought, was very encouraging: a lot of swings and misses, made a lot of clutch pitches, like I said, when guys were on base or in scoring position. I thought everything was very encouraging except for the times we ended up walking some batters.”

On Eli Jerzembeck and his return from Tommy John

“I think it was great for him to get his first time out there pitching against another team since March of his freshman year. So, you expect him to be a little bit rusty, maybe have a little bit of nerves. He’s pitched in the intra-squad games better than he pitched tonight.

“You know, remember, he’s coming off of Tommy John surgery, too, so his arm gets a little achy sometimes. You know, sometimes not as lively. He’s been throwing a lot. Terry has had him on a very intense throwing program, so sometimes his arm feels—I don’t want to say dead—but, you know, not as lively. Today, he didn’t quite have the zip he normally has. But I think Eli is going to be a very vital player for us, obviously.”

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On the roster shrinking below 45 players ahead of the 40-man limit this spring and the injury situation

“43…well, Riley Goodman is out for the year, so really just 42 active guys. So, we’ve still got a little bit to decide over the next couple of weeks going into the spring. It’s never fun to have to trim off the roster. I don’t get any enjoyment from having to do that. I think we’re kind of zeroing in on the guys who we can count on for the springtime, and we’re getting more and more optimistic by the day.

“Well, Parker Marlatt and Eddie Copper have not pitched at all this fall, but they’re now starting to throw bullpens. Their bullpens have been quite impressive. We didn’t even use them tonight, and we used 14 guys tonight. So, very encouraging stuff. I can’t think of anyone else—oh, Soucie…he hasn’t thrown a ball since he’s been here…I’ve never even seen him throw a baseball, so I don’t know what we’ve got there.”

On Blake Jackson getting hit in the head by a pitch during the scrimmage

“Yeah, he passed all the protocols, you know. I don’t think it’s going to be anything long-term, and he was back in the dugout and acting fine. No use in taking any more chances tonight.”

On his team’s pitchers causing a lot of swings-and-misses/sidebar on Eli Jerzembeck and Jake McCoy

“Well, you know, like I said, we don’t have the overpowering arms. I mean, Jerzembeck can run it up there pretty good. McCoy is going to be a key to our team. If McCoy can really master the strike zone, he’s got a chance to be special in my opinion as a left-hander, mid-90s. I thought the strike zone was a little tight when he was pitching that inning. I thought he had two batters struck out, and then he ended up walking them on the 3-2 pitch. But then he loaded the bases and ended up pitching out of it and struck out three batters, I think. He’s got something special about him. If he can really put it together…like I said, Terry has done an amazing job already with a lot of these guys. I think you can put [McCoy] right on the top of that list.

“And I think if McCoy ends up really blossoming the way we hope that he can, between he and Jerzembeck at the top of this staff, I think it’s going to set the tone for the rest of the guys and for how we can use them.”

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