Everything Mark Kingston said after South Carolina’s 10-5 win over Alabama
Following a 10-5 win in the first round of the SEC Tournament, South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston spoke to the media after the game. Here’s what he had to say.
Opening statement
“Yeah, well, obviously big win for us. Coming into Alabama, playing Alabama in such a big game, I’m just so proud of our team and the effort and the execution. It all starts with the guy to my right, five and two thirds, no earned runs, on that stage, can’t say enough about him and how proud I am of him, competitor he is. We felt when we started him in that, what was it, the fourth inning, hey, if you can give us two or three, that will be tremendous, and he finished the game. So the great thing about post-season sometimes is guys start to create moments that they will remember for the rest of their life. This is our first one in this post-season, I hope we have a lot more, because again, I think this team is very capable.”
On if he felt the team was able to flush the last six games and treat today as a new season
“Part of my speech to the team this morning was I keep getting asked that question, ‘How are they going to recover from a tough couple of weeks?’ And with all due respect, I told our team people are asking us those questions don’t really know what you guys are made of. (They) don’t know going on inside this building, don’t know the investment you have all made to support each other for the last 10 months starting on the first day of class. And so we’re very intentional about trying to build a group of guys that know there are going to be ups and downs in this league. Very few teams will ever go through this league unscathed, you’re going to have ups and downs. Sometimes if the schedule falls a certain way, they’re going to be early. Sometimes the schedule falls a certain way, they’re going to be late, but they’re coming. And so you have to build the right foundation that they’ll be able to handle that when they do come. Baseball is a game that demands consistency and a certain calm and a stable mindset. And so we always emphasize that to our guys, that’s where we have to be. And I think that allows you to deal with the downs until the wave comes back to you and you start to experience some of the ups.”
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On how important this win was in terms of postseason hopes
“Well, I think it means I’ll stop having to read every article that Mark Etheridge puts out there and figure out every last data point and comparing win-loss records and RPIs and strength of schedules. I thought we were solidly in before, I think this just makes it a slam dunk now. Now I think the focus changes to what happens if we go on a run? Can we get in that top 12 RPI now, which could be conceivable playing the teams we’re going to play. So it’s amazing what a fine line it can be in this league. What it does to our psyche, I’m glad that our guys got rewarded for enduring a couple of the hardships that we’ve had over the last couple of weeks. Because it feels good to win, man, it really does. It’s hard to win in this league, really hard. And so I’m just glad the guys got to experience that. The number one motivation for them was that they didn’t want to have another seven hour bus ride like we had yesterday to get here. So they didn’t want to have to get back on that thing and head back to Columbia today. Now they know they’re gonna be here for a little while. And I’m just really happy that they’re going to experience everything this tournament is.”
On sticking with Chris Veach after he made it one time through the Alabama lineup
“Obviously, Dylan (Eskew) went through the order. I don’t want it to be lost how good Matthew Becker was for us there. He kind of allowed the game to stay within reach, got a couple of really big outs when he came in the game. And then he got to 39 pitches. So we thought it was time to hand the ball over to Veach. And we had the other two or three guys that were going to come in after Veach, assuming he was gonna give us two or three. But he was just so dominant that there was just no reason to take him out. And the great thing about what he did today is he helped us win today. But because he finished that game, he might have given us help in winning the next game and the next game after that, because we didn’t have to use Gainey, we didn’t have to use Good, we didn’t have to use guys like that. So just a tremendous performance.”
On how the committee should view this team now compared to other teams fighting for a postseason spot
“Here’s, I was just talking to Lance out there about this. I have a couple opinions, I don’t need to give you all my opinions on the matter because we probably have, we’ll get the same question throughout the course of the week. Here’s my opinion: If the SEC deserves 11 teams, give the SEC 11 teams. These players, these coaches, these athletic departments work very hard to become the best they can, and if 11 teams deserve to get in, 11 teams should get in. Because I guarantee you, if there’s a year where the SEC has a down year and only eight or nine teams deserve to get in, eight or nine teams will get in. So I think you have to look at it both ways. If it’s a down year they get less. If it’s an unbelievable good year, which I would label this, then they deserve more than last year’s record of 10 or whatever — I think the record as it stands is 10. If we deserve 11, give us 11. If we deserve 10, give us 10. That’s my opinion on the matter.”
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On what he saw from the offense today with the approach and how they executed
“I’m going to give you an old quote that Tim McCarver used to use. Tennessee’s really good. I mean, across the board Tennessee’s really good. Sometimes when you face really good you don’t score as many runs. Tim McCarver used to say that Steve Carlton and Bob Gibson were the luckiest pitchers he ever saw, because whenever they pitched the other team didn’t score. Look, when you face great pitching, you’re going to score less. Alabama today threw Farone, who is really good, and Davis and those guys. They’re good pitchers, but, like, the guys we’ve been facing lately are unbelievably good. So, our approach remains the same. Our approach is get a good pitch to hit. Try to do damage when the count’s in your favor. Fight your ass off with two strikes. That’s our approach whether it’s Tennessee, whether it’s opening weekend, that’s always our approach. Sometimes the pitcher dictates whether you have success or not.”
On when he could use Veach again and if he has a starting pitcher in mind for tomorrow
“I have to talk to Matt. I wouldn’t be surprised if we use a very similar strategy, try to get guys in and out, it’s been so successful for us and it was again today. But also I think we have to see how the game’s going and developing just like we did today. I’m not ready to tell you who will start the game tomorrow. When Veach will be available, he threw 67 pitches, that’s incredible for almost a six-inning outing. We’ll see. Just have to see how he feels, have to see what the game needs, and we’ll kind of go from there. But again, we want to make sure that he can give us that kind of outing again in the NCAA tournament.”
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