Everything Mark Kingston said after South Carolina splits doubleheader with Arkansas
South Carolina managed to split a doubleheader with Arkansas on Saturday. But the Gamecocks ultimately lost the series, winning just one game this weekend.
After 18 innings of action, head coach Mark Kingston met with the media to break down the entire weekend. Here’s what he had to say.
Opening statement
“I don’t know how you could play any closer than that 18 innings today. Both teams scored 12 runs, both teams did a lot of good things. That’s the number two ranked team in the country. Went toe to toe. Disappointed we didn’t win the series again. But I just think it shows how close we are. And that was my message to the team that we’re close. But these top five teams we’re playing, we got to keep working to get over that little hump there so that we’re a top five team.”
On Dylan Eskew’s start in game two of the DH
“He gave us exactly what we hoped. I thought all three guys that we put in the rotation this weekend gave us exactly what we hoped. Roman was dominant until he had to come out of the game with the thumb. Eli Jones pitched well enough to help us win game two. And then, Eskew gave up one earned run in basically six innings. So that’s something we can build on. All three guys gave us a chance to win. And that’s what you ask for when you’re facing the number two team in the country.”
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On using a lot of big arms in game one of the DH
“Yeah, well, there’s always a domino effect. When you play three games in 24 hours and a doubleheader today, there’s going to be some residuals from who you have to use in game one and game two, and that effects who you have available in game three. Sometimes it catches up with you, sometimes it doesn’t. I thought maybe today caught up with us just a little bit. But for the most part, I thought our pitchers, of the 27 innings that they pitched, I thought the great majority of them were very impressive.”
On hitting Austin Brinling leadoff and evaluating his performance on Saturday
“I thought he did what we thought he would do. Again, I give him so much credit. He came in here in the fall and really struggled. He had a hitch in his swing that did not allow him to hit this level of pitching. But he’s been working hard. He cleaned it up, he corrected it. And now he’s given us great at bats. And again, I always keep an open mind with players of this age because you just never know when one adjustment can get a guy going and turn his whole season around. So he did exactly what we wanted to he gave us quality at-bats. He got big hits, he took his walks. He played good defense in the outfield. So he looks this weekend like the guy we recruited last summer.”
On the impact of the defensive mistakes in the second inning of game two of the DH
“Well, that was a big part, obviously. All those were unearned, so they didn’t get an earned run until I think the sixth inning. And so that was huge, because that not only gives them three runs that shouldn’t have been on the board, but it stretches and adds pitches to Eskew there and gets him out of the game quicker. So it was a big inning. Again, sometimes that happens. Our defense has been pretty damn elite in the SEC so far this year. So that was just an unfortunate inning where we made an error and we didn’t turn the double play that was there. If we did either one of those things they don’t score a run there. And that proved to be big in a three-run game.”
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On takeaways after facing Arkansas’ pitching staff
“Obviously, you can almost take Hagen Smith out of the equation because he’s so good. He could go pitch against the Boston Red Sox right now and have success. But I thought the two games today, we were pretty damn competitive. Obviously, a couple guys had tough weekends. I’m not going to name them, I don’t do that, but a couple guys had tough weekends that they need to bounce back from as we move forward. But I thought for the most part, to score 12 runs in one day against that the best pitching staff in the country, I think that’s something that we can build on.”
On outlook after this weekend and the season as a whole
“You look at it from different angles. If you look at it on the surface, 9-9, we want to be better than that. Everybody in the league does. But I also look at it, that’s one of the top five or six records in our league right now. And I also look at it as if you look at the teams we’ve played compared to other teams and who they’ve had to play so far. Our schedule is a bear. And our record is what? 27-12? And we’ve played 21 games against quad one teams. I’m not going to give you our our resume right now, it’s not that time. But if we had played not one of the best schedules in the country, we could easily be 31-8, whatever the record is, easily. But we’re being tested against the best of the best, and we want to be the best of the best. So we’re not where we want to be, we want to be the best team in the country. But we’re pretty damn competitive when we play the best in the country, which means we’re close. And it just means we need to keep grinding, keep focusing on the details, and keep pushing each other because we’re that close. As I told the team, the balls on the one-yard line in terms of where we want to be. But getting the ball across the goal line is the toughest part. So we’ve just got to keep pushing.”
On if exam week comes at a good time for the team
“We won’t know until next Friday. If we play great next Friday, we’ll say it was great. If we’re a little off, we’ll say, ‘Hey, it took us out of our rhythm.’ I think it’ll give Will Tippett hopefully a chance to rest and maybe get back to being available. That being said, I thought Lee Ellis did a pretty nice job today in his absence. I think we’ve played 39 games, so maybe it’s a good time to take a step back, catch our breath, get back in the weight room, not have the midweek game and get a lot all of our pitchers fresh instead of having to worry about pitching on Tuesday and and then bouncing back again Friday. So we’ll focus in on it from a positive way and try to use it as a positive.”
On what Tippett’s availability was coming into Saturday
“I got a text this morning that said he would be out and so it was pretty simple. You put Lee in the lineup and support him and help him do well.”
On schedule for this upcoming week with no midweek game
“Well, tomorrow is obviously off. I think the early in the week, it’ll be mostly getting in the weight room and just making sure we stay strong. And then I’ll meet with the staff and decide exactly how we want to plan the week. It’s exam week, so that’s a high priority for our guys. We want to finish strong academically and not get in the way of them doing that. So we can balance the workouts we get in with being able to make sure that they’re fully focused on their academics. So we’ll put together good plan form and we’ll be ready to go on Friday.”
