Former South Carolina slugger Andrew Eyster weighs on 2023 Gamecocks

Baseball season rages on and one former South Carolina player, Andrew Eyster, took some time to weigh in on this crop of Gamecocks.

Eyster joined GamecockCentral’s weekly baseball show, Fowl Balls (Mondays at 7 p.m.), for a segment to talk all things Gamecocks baseball.

Here’s everything he had to say about the Gamecocks Monday night.

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On sitting on the other side of the net now

Eyster: “It’s been a ton of fun. Opening Day was a little bittersweet. There are definitely times when I miss being out there and I wish I was. But I definitely enjoy being around here and getting to be in the stands for most of the home games, especially on the weekends.

On how fun this group is to watch

Eyster: “There is a certain amount of jealousy for how well these guys are playing right now. I would give a lot to have the opportunity to play on this team because it looks like they’re having a ton of fun out there. Just the amount of success they’re having, you know, it’s really not something that I got to experience in my decade wearing the Garnet and Black. But I’m happy for these guys, man. They’re having a ton of fun and it’s enjoyable for me to go out there and watch them.

On the sophomores playing well after growing pains as freshmen

Eyster: “It’s been awesome, especially for those two guys. Going into last year, they were opposites coming into the fall. Cole (Messina), everyone knew he was a big-time prospect, and he really showed it in the fall. He played his butt off in the fall, really hit the ball well. Then he had his injury, he had his elbow surgery and came back and really struggled. I know he went through a lot mentally and just trying to get back to where he was, and I know that was a struggle for him last year. So to see him playing as good as he is is really awesome. He’s a great dude. Lucky enough to call him a friend.

Talmadge (LeCroy), you could tell in the fall there was something there. But for a while, he kind of just looked like a high school guy who’s coming into the SEC from playing at a small little high school in the middle of South Carolina. He completely flipped the switch and was a really nice contributor last year for us.

To see how he’s continuing to improve has been really cool too. I mean, he’s playing pretty much lights out third base and getting a bunch of hits as well, hitting for a little bit of power and getting on base. He’s just kind of a dirtbag, you put him wherever you need him and he’s going to play solid defense and put together some good at-bats.”

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On how guys go about busting out of a slump

Eyster: “When you’re struggling, the instinctual thing to do is to try to change. Well I’m struggling and I’m doing this, let’s try something different. Your mind wants you to do that and everything in you is telling you to change but you just got to stick with what’s gotten you to this point. I mean, all those guys can play — that’s why they’re here.

It’s baseball, you go through slumps. Some of it is dumb luck at some point. I guess that would be my biggest piece of advice. After all those years of playing, I definitely went through some slumps. But just keep doing what you’re doing. There’s no need to change what got you to this point.”

On credit Chad Caillet deserves for helping lay offensive foundation

Eyster: “Yeah, absolutely. He was a huge part of obviously last year and in the successes that we had at some points, not overall as a season. But he’s also responsible for a lot of the successes that guys are having this year, as well. I mean, he was our hitting coach for a year and it’s tough to come into a brand new environment and brand new players, brand new people that you’re not familiar with.

Usually it takes more than a year to get accustomed to that. You definitely have got to give him some credit, especially for what these guys are doing this year, because a lot of these guys are people that had him as their first hitting coach in college.”

On playing at Mississippi State

Eyster: “That weekend at Mississippi State was probably the most electric baseball environment that I’ve ever played in front of. That was my sophomore year, so that was my first year at Carolina. We were on the brink of making or not making the SEC Tournament. We lost those first two games of the series and then played a good game Sunday. Brett (Kerry) started. I know we had a few homers, had a good day offensively. By winning that last game we made it to the SEC Tournament.

I was playing left field that weekend. I mean, the fans were rowdy, but they were cool, though. They were super cool. They were giving me food, I had some like pork tenderloin, some chicken. They actually gave me a brownie and I remember I ate that brownie and I was like, ‘We’re not getting ready to head to the SEC Tournament.’ I had a good weekend so I think I had their respect. And so, they were super cool to me. But that was the most fun place to play in college baseball aside from Founders Park.

I don’t know about this weekend, I know they’re really struggling. So hopefully they can get a good crowd still and those guys get to experience what it’s like to play there because it’s really cool.”

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On South Carolina not overlooking an opponent

Eyster: “When it comes to SEC play, anything can happen and we’ve experienced it lots of time where we might have been an extreme underdog — last year against Vanderbilt. I don’t know if at that point many of us expected that to happen. We’ve had our games, had our series where everyone’s expecting us to win and we didn’t. Especially in SEC play, you can’t go in with the mindset of, ‘Oh, this is an easy weekend.’

Cause a team like Mississippi State, although they’re struggling, they’re talented and they have the ability to put up 10-15 runs and shut you out at any time. Before conference play starts, especially when you’re going into the third or fourth weekend getting ready for SEC, it can kind of be like yeah, let’s get this thing over with.

But at this point, you definitely can’t have that attitude because they can just as easily take two out of three or sweep you as easily as you think you’ll do that to them.”

On South Carolina RHP Will Sanders

Eyster: “He’s super, super high on preparation. I mean, he’s definitely one of the hardest workers that I’ve been around and really takes baseball and pitching and what he does very seriously. He puts a lot of effort into it. I’m sure if you asked him right now, he would probably say he’s not happy with how he’s thrown, he’s not pitched as well as he would have anticipated to this point.

But like everyone’s been saying, he took a lot of time off and we’re lucky that we’ve got lots of guys behind him, you know, two other really good weekend starters and a great bullpen and a great offense. So they’ve been there even when he has not been at his best.

We’ve all seen what that kid can do. I just think you’ve got to give it a little time. We’re 6-0 in SEC play up to this point, 23-2 overall. Things have worked out so far. We all know what kind of player he is, what kind of pitcher he is.”

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On sophomores Cade Austin and Matthew Becker

Eyster: “Yeah, it’s been great. Cade, now this is his third year, but he didn’t pitch his freshman year. So this is kind of like his second full year. Cade’s an awesome guy to be around, super funny. I mean, he’s probably one of the few guys of last year, when he went out you knew he was going to do what he needed to do. He’s a guy that you have a lot of trust in and I know these guys feel the same way. Obviously, one of the nastier changeups that you’ll probably see around, I mean, just a gross pitch. He’s just a competitor, got a bulldog mentality. You can see the way he’s up there on the mound. You know that when he’s on the mound, he’s going to get the job done.

And Becker, it’s been good to see him at the beginning of this year. He had some really great moments last year and then some not-so-great moments. But same thing with him, he’s a competitor and he wants the ball when given the opportunity. That was a pretty gutsy performance on Saturday, getting out of that first and third no-out jam. So, I mean, that’s something that can build a lot of confidence for a guy like that. That was great to see.

It’s cool for me, and I’m not one of them, but it’s cool seeing all these local kids contribute in such a big way. Guys who grew up Gamecock fans, you know, grew up as kids going out to Founders Park and watching those national championship teams play, dreaming to be here one day. So I think it’s really special seeing guys like them and Evan and Talmadge and Cole, just those homegrown guys playing a huge part for this team.”

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