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What Paul Mainieri said after South Carolina's Opening Day win over Sacred Heart

imageby:Jack Veltri•about 17 hours•

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Paul Mainieri (Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

Following his first win as head coach at South Carolina, Paul Mainieri spoke to the media about the Gamecocks’ 5-3 win over Sacred Heart on Opening Day. Below is a summary of what he had to say.

— Fun to get that first game out of the way. Sacred Heart was a scrappy team. Not in midseason form yet. There’s always going to be jitters. But they did enough offensively to get enough runs.

— The key was Dylan Eskew pitching well and then Parker Marlatt getting out of that tough jam in the sixth. Good win to start the season.

— Thought they could go up to 90 pitches with Eskew. He pitched his heart out. He has all the confidence in the world in his bullpen. Will be going to his relievers a lot this weekend.

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— They’ve been grooming Brendan Sweeney for the closer role. Thought he could handle that kind of situation in the ninth. He’s a very nice kid and soft spoken, so they’re trying to make him a little meaner. Sweeney’s nickname is the Bulldog.

— Doesn’t want them to be known as a small ball team. That’s not the intention. But there’s no condition that affects baseball more than the wind blowing in. Didn’t expect many homers today. Surprised Petry’s homer left the yard. Felt they were going to have to manufacture runs by making things happen.

— Poise is something they stress all the time with the players. Puts a lot of pressure on them in practice because he wants the game to be no different for them than what he does in practice. Loved how calm KJ Scobey was to make that play on a ground ball his way in the ninth. He’s a good kid. He cares about the right stuff and he’s a good defensive third baseman. He can handle the hot corner and will make a lot of clutch plays. But he told them he expected this to be a one-run game. What matters most is what they did in the last three innings. They were well able to handle that situation when the game was tied at three.

— Pitchers aren’t going to be perfect. Pitzer will be back and will be much better. He’s got a lot of confidence in him. South Carolina doesn’t have that truly dominant arm, but they’ve got a lot of guys who will compete. Didn’t think they’d strike out that many batters. They’re going to have to play good defense and they did today.

— It was a little bit like riding a bicycle today being back out there for his first game. It was good to be back. Enjoys being in the tough moments and showing some leadership. It was great to have his family here today, too.

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