Everything Mark Kingston said after South Carolina's fifth straight loss
Following South Carolina’s 8-3 loss to Tennessee on Friday, head coach Mark Kingston met with the media to discuss the game. Here’s what he had to say.
On if there was any thought to pulling Garrett Gainey earlier than he did and if anyone else was ready in the bullpen besides Jake McCoy
“Yeah obviously we had guys ready in the bullpen. Garrett’s our best pitcher — plain and simple — Garrett’s our best pitcher. Those were his runners and I felt like he deserved to pitch his way out of it. He actually made a good pitch. That was going to be his last hitter. And he was still (throwing) 94. He knew that was his last hitter. He was able to reach back and he was 94 that entire at-bat. He made some great pitches. The guy took a great swing on a tough pitch up and in the zone. And you know what? You’ve got to tip your cap. Garrett Gainey’s our best pitcher and he deserved to be in that moment.”
On bringing Parker Marlatt into a one-run game as opposed to a more experienced arm like Chris Veach
“We wanted Chris Veach to pitch the last three to six outs of that game. We’ve been getting deep in games with leads and blowing them. And we just wanted to make sure that a veteran would get the last three to six outs. He was available, he was ready. But we wanted to save him for later in the game cause you’ve got to get 27 outs one way or another. And you need veterans that have gotten the last three outs, which are the hardest to get. So we wanted to save him for that.”
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On if there was any thought to bringing in Veach earlier, specifically in Marlatt’s situation
“No.”
On if he could’ve used Eli Jones out of relief in a position to win the game
“We could’ve. But again, Eli, we wanted to see Eli at his best before we put him in such a high-leverage situation. He’ll be available tomorrow. So Eli was available but we just didn’t think it was the right time.”
On the offense against Tennessee starter Drew Beam
“We hit the ball hard all night. I don’t know how many balls we hit hard, we had a lot of barrels. We hit the ball hard all night. For only scoring three runs, I thought we swung the bats about as well as we possibly can against a high draft pick like that. So I have no problem with the way we swung the bats all night.”
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On how he will keep the players’ spirits high going into tomorrow
“It’s not a problem cause these guys know that we’re still a good team. When you play the number one team in the country, you might take some body blows. The resilience of this team I have no issues with.”
On if he has any regrets about any of the pitching moves he made tonight
“Well I mean, if it backfires, then yeah. Monday morning quarterback is a real thing. If it doesn’t work out, you always wish you had done something different.”
On if Jones is available for tomorrow
“Correct.”
