What Paul Mainieri said previewing South Carolina baseball season

In three short weeks, there will be meaningful baseball back at Founders Park. And with the start of baseball season brings along a new era for South Carolina.

The Gamecocks are set to begin full team preseason practice on Friday. Before then, first-year head coach Paul Mainieri met with members of the media to discuss the upcoming season. Below is a summary of what he had to say.

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— Today is such an exciting day. It’s one of his favorite days of the year. *Takes a call in the press conference* The Godfather theme is his ringtone. But anyway, the NCAA passed a rule that beginning next year that the common start date will be 35 days before the season. So it’s taken the NCAA all these decades to come to a start date that makes sense. You need five weeks to get your pitchers ready to go.

— So excited for today. This is the 40th time he’s had a first full team preseason to start the year. Says Eli Jerzembeck and Parker Marlatt will pitch, along with Jake McCoy and Matthew Becker for another team in the first scrimmage.

— Had a little bad news yesterday with KJ Scobey. He was taking some batting practice on his own that he twisted his ankle. He should hopefully be back by next week. Eddie Copper, who missed the whole fall, had a little bit of a lat strain in his back. He won’t be able to pitch in the first series of games this weekend and next Tuesday. But it’s nothing serious.

— Knows this team is a lot better than most think in the preseason poll. But it’s okay. They need to prove themselves. This is his first team that isn’t ranked in the preseason since 2008 LSU.

— Thinks they will have a solid lineup and deep pitching staff. Knows their depth is good. Won’t run anyone out there that’s an embarrassment. He’s sure of that. They’ve got some guys that haven’t proven themselves yet but when they do it could be special.

— Getting to know the kids on the team has been one of the joys of his life. Haven’t had an ounce of trouble. The kids embraced a little bit of boot camp out at Fort Jackson. They’ve been receptive to everything, now it’s just about going out on the field and doing it.

[Win tickets: South Carolina-Auburn WBB]

— They’re still considering a lot of options for the rotation. Jerzembeck, Dylan Eskew and Jake McCoy have a chance to establish themselves and be in the rotation. But there are the other guys right in the mix, too. The wild card for them is Matthew Becker. He pitched better than anyone this fall. But there’s no use of pitching five, six, seven good innings if you can’t close out the game. Might use him a little bit of a hybrid as a guy who can close but go multiple innings. He could also start, too. He’s such a valuable guy.

— Eskew was a sinker ball guy last year. Terry Rooney has worked on a cutter with him for this season. He’s developed his changeup. Towards the end of the fall, he was consistently 92-93 MPH. Expecting a lot out of him. If McCoy pitches to what he’s capable of, he’s going to be very good.

— Everyone keeps talking about Clemson around here. Hopefully they’ll have the answers around here by the time they get around to playing that series.

— They only have 14 returning players from last year’s team. They have a few freshmen on this team. He’s high on Beau Hollins. Doesn’t know if he’ll be in the starting lineup right away because they have a guy named Petry who might play at first base. But won’t hesitate to use him in the later innings. Had three guys at LSU in 2009 that were like Hollins and weren’t playing right away. But because of how good they were defensively, they eventually became full-time starters that helped them win the national championship. Something like that could happen for Hollins.

— One guy that will be in the starting lineup as a freshman is Scobey. He’s uniquely talented as a player. You don’t realize you have a good third baseman until you have a good third baseman. The ball always seems to find him. He’s going to develop as a hitter and become a superstar in the SEC. He’d probably be the only freshman that would start for them in the everyday lineup. The SEC has become an older conference. South Carolina will be like that to some extent, especially in the outfield. They’ve got to stock up on outfielders in the recruiting class. He has the guts of a burglar when it comes to playing freshman.

— Almost let Zach Russell go when he was a shortstop coming to South Carolina. Spoke to Rooney and talked to him about switching him to a pitcher. He was throwing 93 and could have an important role on the staff. But it’s going to take some time for some of the freshmen to get in there.

[Win tickets: South Carolina-Texas A&M MBB]

— Jerzembeck’s personality is one that you adjust to. Likes those kind of kids. They put the pressure on themselves to back it up. He’s got good stuff. His changeup has gotten a lot better. He’s healthy. His personality is that he wants the ball. He wants the team to be on his shoulders. If he’s the Friday night guy, can he pitch a low-run ballgame? That’s what they’re going to learn about him.

— This weekend, Ethan Petry will play third base in the scrimmages. Until 10 p.m. last night, he thought Scobey had a broken foot. The long term solution would’ve been to put Petry at third and Talmadge LeCroy at first base. Trying to make sure they still have good defense but they need some sock in the lineup. When Scobey’s back, Petry will probably slide back to first and split his time there and in right field. If it’s late in the game, he could put Petry in right and Hollins at first. There could be some late inning maneuvering from that standpoint. Sees Petry’s longterm future in the big leagues over at first.

— Thinks he was born to coach when he was growing up. Never had an April where he wasn’t in a dugout throughout his life. Just loves it. Loves working with kids, watching the excitement of youngsters develop and inspire them to greatness. Loves the molding of a team. Can’t sing or dance, so he doesn’t know what else he can do besides coach.

— The people who put together the preseason poll don’t know your team or players. When he saw South Carolina football before their season started, he was pleased with what he saw. Shane Beamer knew they had a good team. Knows they have a good team for baseball, too. They’re going to show up for every game. Has a little saying, don’t take anybody lightly. You respect all of your opponents. But you’re not in awe of any of them. You can’t be afraid of them. Nobody has worked harder than this team. There’s talent on this team. He’s had some successful teams without a lot of pro prospects. It’s 56 games. The 30 SEC games count a little more. But if you sit back and look at the schedule, it becomes daunting and intimidating. Just take it one game at a time. The players aren’t allowed to talk about Omaha. The only thing they are allowed to talk about is Sacred Heart.

— Your season will be defined by how you do in the one and two run games. There’s a big difference between winning by one and losing by one. You’ve got to come through in the clutch. Those are the games that separate you. You do that if you’re tough, confident and have enough talent to do it. Thinks they can do it. Doesn’t want the fanbase to be down in the dumps about not being ranked right now. But he’s pleading with the fanbase to believe in the players like he does. They need to get the fans engaged and be proud of the team. It makes a difference.

— On the catching situation: being very transparent, it’s the one area of the team he’s most concerned about. Doesn’t know what they’re going to do yet. LeCroy needs to continue to improve. Max Kaufer enrolled early and started at Texas A&M as a freshman. He’s got some good qualities. Likes Gavin Braland. He’s put on about 20 pounds. Thinks he’s about 180 pounds now. Didn’t get to see much of Ryan Bakes in the fall since he had surgery on his hand. Really anxious to see what he looks like beginning this weekend.

— He tells all his friends they need to come visit South Carolina and come check out a football game. He watches the way Beamer works with the players. His thoughts were that this guy is awesome. Loves to see coaches that build players up like he does. He saw right from the get-go his demeanor and how positive he is. Thought to himself that he really hoped he could win. And then they won nine games. Loves being around positive people. Has the greatest respect for him. Beamer will throw out the first pitch on Sunday of the Opening Weekend series. Jeremiah Donati will throw out the first pitch for Opening Day, then Ray Tanner for the Saturday game.

— Thinks they have some guys that have some pop. Will take Petry hitting 20, maybe 30 homers if he can get there. Didn’t anticipate Kennedy Jones coming back initially. He’s got homer potential. Won’t put pressure on Nathan Hall, but he hits the ball as hard and as far anyone. If he can put it all together, he could be special. Has a feeling he will be able to do that. Will Tippett hasn’t hit for a high average, but he’s a sneaky home run hitter. He’s just hitting right-handed now. Blake Jackson is capable of showing power as is Henry Kaczmar. If Nolan Nawrocki can get healthy, he’s a physical guy that can do some good, too.

— People love this place. He loves this place, too. Everyone has been so warm and accepting of him and his family at South Carolina. There’s quality people everywhere you look. Everyone he’s met has been awesome. When he puts on the jersey, he’s going to be as proud as anybody.

— Kaczmar is a really good baseball player. He was at Ohio State and the starting shortstop for two years there. Him and Kaczmar weren’t friends for a few days when OSU beat Notre Dame in the national championship. He loved OSU but his coach left. He was the one guy Mainieri really wanted. Thought they needed good baseball players. Reminds him of Josh Smith from his days at LSU who’s now with the Texas Rangers. Kaczmar is going to make the clutch plays, give good at-bats, run the bases well. He’s just a really poised kid. He carries himself like a professional. He’s going to be the everyday shortstop, regardless of facing righties or lefties.

— His top priority is not defense or offense. His top priority is to score more runs than the other team. The biggest thing for him is run differential. There’s going to be days where you’re going to have to win a high scoring game. Hitting and pitching can be up and down. Defense should be fairly consistent. You can’t win without defense. You can’t pitch great unless you have a great defense behind you. If you want to play regularly here, you have to play great defense. It’s a prerequisite.

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