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What Paul Mainieri said ahead of South Carolina's weekend series with Milwaukee

by:Kendall Eaves•02/20/25
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Paul Mainieri (Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

Approaching the Milwaukee series this weekend, South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri spoke to the media on Thursday. Below is a summary of what he had to say.

— Eli Jerzembeck is going to be out for the season. It is discovered he has a stress fracture in his right elbow. Mainieri thinks he will make a full recovery and his career will continue.

— Mainieri is still unsure of when they are going to get Eddie Copper back. By now, they thought he would be back. There is not much of an update, but Copper is continuing to rehab. He has not thrown off the mound yet this spring. 

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— With the injuries, Mainieri is already getting the other pitchers amped for the Clemson series and SEC play. The three starters from last week threw five innings. It is a long season and there is not a need to go crazy. Prioritizing the decisions with winning the game and keeping everyone healthy is what they will be doing.

— Nathan Hall is showing how special he is. The Major Leagues are in his future. With his athleticism working in his favor, he is becoming a really good hitter and a tough out. Defensively, he is an outstanding centerfielder. He needed encouragement and opportunity to keep playing and understand that he can make mistakes. 

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— Thinks that if you think you are going to have a blow out win, it is disrespectful to your opponents. Some games it might be a big lead, but many are not. The lead can be turned around quickly, and that is just baseball. Better off having a close game because the team will grow from it. He does not want a blow out team and the players to think they just can throw their gloves on the field and just win. 

— Brenden Sweeney has a great arm and a really good second pitch. In Junior College he was pitching seven innings when he is a two pitch guy, it gets tough to strike out batters. Now that he is here, he is working on a third pitch. Matthew Becker is so valuable with experience, the more innings they can get out of him, the better. Sweeney in the closer role has been good so far. 

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