Everything Mark Kingston said after South Carolina's 6-5 win over Arkansas
Following a huge 6-5 win over Arkansas in the second round of the SEC Tournament, South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston spoke with the media to break down the game. Here’s what he had to say.
Opening statement
“Well, a great ballgame. Two of the best teams in the country in my opinion. Could’ve gone either way but this guy closed it out at the end. Cole drove in five of our six runs. That’s the team we’re capable of being on any given day. And we beat one of the best teams in the country. So again, it’s something we’ll continue to build on.”
On the decision to use Garrett Gainey out of the bullpen today
“Well, Garrett’s one of those guys that he’s either going to give you one day with some length or you use him twice with shorter bursts. And so once we had the lead, we decided, ‘Okay, we’re going to give the ball to Garrett. It’s going to be a little bit of a longer outing but hopefully he can take us home. And that’s exactly what we did. We went into today saying if we’re control of the game and we have a chance to win, we’ll give it to Garrett. If it’s getting away from us, then we’ll save him for tomorrow and he probably would start. So we’re just being flexible with a lot of our guys right now. All these guys are right around that between 50-60 pitches. That means they may be able to be deployed later in the week as well. So it’s kind of who we are right now.”
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On how different the vibe is when Cole Messina is playing the way he has
“Well, we score a lot more runs when he’s hitting, that’s clear. I’m pretty sure if you dug into the stats on the days he has big games, I bet we probably win 90 percent of the time. When he doesn’t, it’s obviously not that high. But he’s the heart and soul of our team. And when the heart and soul of your team is playing that well, it just allows everybody else to kind of follow suit.”
On what gives him the confidence to trust Gainey in the ninth and not have anyone warming up in the bullpen
“Once we went out there in the ninth inning with the two-run lead, we decided we’re going to ride or die here. He’s earned that right. He’s been one of our best guys. And we’ve talked about it, he didn’t get that last out in Tennessee last week, but there’s certain guys you’re willing to ride or die with, and he’s one of them. We were going to win or lose in the ninth inning with him on the mound. There was no reason to get anybody else up.”
On if there’s anything he’s seen different out of Messina the last few days or if it’s him putting it together on the big stage
“I think his mechanics, when he has his hands high, he’s got some movements that need to be synced up properly. When they are, he’s as good as any hitter in the country. And right now, he’s completely synced up. His timing is where it needs to be. When he does that, his swing is in the zone for a long time, which is exactly what allows what he was just talking about. He was looking fastball, he got the slider. But because his bat is in the zone for so long, he’s swinging the right way, it allows you to be back here for the fastball and still be on plan for the slider when it’s hung. And so that’s why it maybe looks like a guy is sitting on the breaking ball, but when you have a swing that’s in the zone for a long time, it can cover the fastball and slider.”
On how pleased he’s been with the way in which this team has fought these first two days in Hoover
“Well, we fought all year. I think sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking if a team is losing, they’re not fighting; and if they’re winning, they are. Nothing could be further from the truth with this team. This team has played hard from day one, and whether you win or lose, that’s not how you define how these kids are fighting. These kids have played hard all year. I know every coach that comes in here will say the same thing. It’s a damn hard league, and you’re going to lose some games. This is a strong-willed team. They’ve never showed up to the park where I thought: They’re not ready to play today. This team played hard. We had a couple tough weekends against two teams that will be national seeds. It happens. We just keep the train moving.”
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On thoughts of being in the winner’s bracket and facing LSU tomorrow
“Yeah, well, I think it’s well documented that the history of South Carolina baseball, there’s been a lot more great moments outside of Hoover than inside of Hoover, a lot more highlights in Omaha than in Hoover, for whatever reason. I’m focusing on this team right now. This is a team that’s a good team, and we can beat just about anybody in the country, and we’re playing really well right now. Just going to ride that wave as long and far as we can.”
On how much of a difference it makes when the team is able to respond right away and score
“Yeah, we responded. It was a little bit of a gut punch. We took the 4-2 lead and then they tied it up. Luckily it didn’t take too long before Cole hit the two-run homer to give us the lead back. Look, baseball is a game of flow. It’s a game of ups and downs. You have to be able to deal with it, both in game and also during a season, and again, this team generally does that pretty well.”
On how he would evaluate the way he’s used the pitching this week and how that sets things up moving forward
“This is how we have to do it really. This is how we have to do it in a short weekend. Obviously we’re playing the tournament now, and you’ve got to win a lot more games and we’ll have to win next week and hopefully the week after that. We’re kind of trying to line things up in a way that we think will give us a chance to win the next couple weekends. It’s a little bit of house money right now. I need to go back with Matt and decide, all right, how do we use guys tomorrow, who will start, who will finish the game and everything in between. So far, again, I think the key for us is to use guys in situations where we don’t overexpose them, we don’t overuse them now that it’s postseason time. And again, Eli was good today, one earned run. He didn’t want to come out, and I don’t blame him. He’s a competitor. But we thought it was time at 56 pitches, and Ty came in, and Ty probably didn’t want to come out, but he was at 60. And then Garrett Gainey gave us 54. Really within that number of pitches for those guys, that’s when they’re at their best.”
