Ahead of South Carolina\u2019s three-game series with Morehead State, head coach Paul Mainieri met with the media on Thursday. Here\u2019s everything he had to say.<\/p>\n
Any updates on Gavin Braland, Dalton Mashore, or anything else with the injuries?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWell, the news on Gavin Braland is good and bad. We don\u2019t see a fracture, which is a very positive thing. Unfortunately, though, he\u2019s going to be out for this weekend. Right now, we\u2019re classifying it as a high ankle sprain, so I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t have much experience with high ankle sprains, so I\u2019m not sure how long it\u2019s going to take for him to recover. And what a bummer, you know? I mean, the kid is, you know, I give him a chance, and he caught two great games. He\u2019s really fearless, and he shows a lot of poise, and he gives you good at-bats too, and he puts a bat on the ball. I think the future is very bright for him, and this is just a little setback right now.<\/p>\n \u201cTalmadge is also out this weekend. So we\u2019re just going to really need Bakes and Kaufer to step it up and play at a high level and show us that they belong here and that they can be a positive on our team. Hopefully, nobody else will get hurt because I\u2019m not really sure who the next backup would be after that. I\u2019m going to do a little poll among the team to see who has any catching experience.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Mashore, the MRI was not great on him either. There are definitely some issues there. I think he is going to hope to try to play through it and see if he can with some different kind of treatment, as opposed to surgery. And we\u2019ll just see how that plays out. It\u2019s been sore for him. I don\u2019t remember when it first started bothering him, but certainly this spring, it\u2019s been bothering him the whole time. He\u2019s such a good outfielder. That would be a big loss for us, too, defensively. He\u2019s a better hitter than he\u2019s been showing consistently, too, but I\u2019m just wondering how much that hip has been affecting him. We\u2019ll just have to play it by year and see if the alternative treatment is going to help him at all and if it\u2019ll give him a chance to be able to play. We\u2019ll see. But the news was not great on him, either.<\/p>\n \u201cOn a positive, I just watched Kennedy take some swings in the cages upstairs. That\u2019s why I was down here a little late. He\u2019s not going to hit on the field at all today (note: he did end up taking live batting practice with the team today), but just watching about 10 swings upstairs with just short toss pitching to him. He doesn\u2019t feel any pain or any restriction, so he feels strongly that he\u2019ll be ready to go tomorrow night.\u201d<\/p>\n Stay on top of all things Gamecocks for just $1 for 7 days\u2014lock in this special offer today!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Will you stick with the same starting rotation this weekend?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019ll be Matthew Becker tomorrow night, Jake McCoy, and then Dylan Eskew.\u201d<\/p>\n Are you fine with how that\u2019s set up? Or would you like to get it in a specific order?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI kind of like that order right now. I mean, it\u2019s always a constant evaluation thing. I mean, based on just pure stuff, Jake McCoy is the more natural Friday night starter, but Becker\u2019s got the experience, he\u2019s got the repertoire of pitches. He\u2019s got a lot of other qualities about him that I think will help him do a good job on Friday. My bigger concern is the end of the game bullpen for us. And I\u2019m just hoping I don\u2019t have to move Becker into the bullpen. I talked very confidently that Sweeney was going to be able to handle that, along with Marlatt and some other guys. The last performance by Sweeney was not good enough to save the game for us. But nobody\u2019s perfect. Everybody can have a rough outing. So we\u2019ll see how everything is after this weekend, and we\u2019ll take a good, hard look at it all and hopefully put ourselves in the best position for the Oklahoma series.\u201d<\/p>\n When you\u2019re an SEC play, typically in your coaching career, do you like to keep things the same with the rotation, or is it kind of like a week-by-week, case-by-case basis?<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, no, I like to keep it the same. But things come up. Sometimes a guy strains a muscle in his back and needs a couple extra days, so you\u2019ve got to bump guys up a day. They should be okay always bumping up a day if they ever have to. Because we have to do that when the SEC tells us to play a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series, and certainly when we get to the SEC tournament, that may end up having to happen as well, or Easter weekend. So that\u2019s usually not a huge deal. But given a choice, I\u2019d like to keep it in the same order for SEC play. But again, like I said, nothing is etched in stone. You\u2019ve got to play it as it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n Your freshmen bats are probably getting a lot more reps than you were expecting when the season started. What have you seen from those guys?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been doing this a lot of years. I don\u2019t know if I want to say I want to pat myself on the back or if I\u2019m crazy, but I\u2019ve got the guts of a burglar when it comes to playing freshmen. I\u2019ve always said I don\u2019t really care about what year they are. I just want the best players, the passionate gamers that come through. I think I talked to y\u2019all before about when I talked specifically about Beau Hollins and maybe Gavin Braland. I don\u2019t remember if I brought him into the discussion or not. Scobey\u2019s been a starter right from the get-go. <\/p>\n \u201cBut I had a year way back in 2009 where I had three really good freshmen that didn\u2019t start the season in the starting lineup. And after 20 games, I plugged in a new freshman third baseman. After 30 games, I plugged in the freshman outfielder, and after 40 games, I plugged in the freshman shortstop and moved DJ LeMahieu to second base. And those three players ended up playing the rest of the year. After I plugged in the shortstop, we went 28-5 the rest of the way and won the national championship. So what happens is, you ask, why do I try to get a lot of guys into the games? You\u2019ll notice how quickly I\u2019m willing to put guys into the games, even with it not being a huge lead. As long as they can play defense and they\u2019re not going to give something to the other team to allow them to get back in the game, I feel confident putting the player out there. And the more times he gets out there, the more he gets used to the bright lights, he gets used to the speed of the game. And they can make a little mistake. It doesn\u2019t cost us the game. But then, as time goes on, they get more and more comfortable. And then when you really give them a chance, like when I put Beau Hollins in on Tuesday, I was really giving him a chance because Mashore was hurt. I looked at different options. I could have put Jackson in right field and stone and left or whatever, but I decided to put Petry in right and let\u2019s play Hollins and let\u2019s see what the kid\u2019s doing because he\u2019s been doing good in those little brief moments when I put him in. <\/p>\n \u201cHey, for two games, the guy shows me like he really wants to play, you know, like he deserves to play. And I love that stuff. That\u2019s the stuff that, even as I\u2019m talking about it right now, my body goes numb because that\u2019s the exciting thing for me as a coach, is to see a young kid that\u2019s waited his turn, but he\u2019s worked hard and he takes advantage of those little \u2014 that\u2019s why I say don\u2019t ever look at it as mop-up duty. Take advantage of those opportunities you get because you enlighten the coach about what your capabilities are. And when I put Beau in there Tuesday, I thought he played a good, solid game. And then last night, of course, between the three hits, he smashed that ball to center field. I didn\u2019t even know he could hit a ball that hard against the wind. The deepest part of the field and almost got out. And then he made that tremendous diving stretch on the throw from Kaczmar when he made that great play. And I told you about his defense already. So yeah, I\u2019m gonna keep playing him until he gives me a reason not to.\u201d<\/p>\n What kind of benefit does it give you to have Hollins as a switch-hitter in the lineup?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that is a benefit, actually. Not many people, in fact, I don\u2019t know if anyone\u2019s brought that up, actually. But it is a benefit. I don\u2019t have to look and see if it\u2019s a lefty or righty throwing. Like with Woita, I have to look and see if it\u2019s a lefty or righty. Maybe with Stone. I\u2019ve got to look at that. But with him, it doesn\u2019t make any difference. He\u2019s a natural right handed hitter, actually. I mean, traditional thought would be that he\u2019s a better right-handed hitter than left-handed. But he didn\u2019t show that last night. He showed that he can really swing the bat left-handed. So, yeah, I\u2019m gonna play him again tomorrow night and just kind of see how it keeps going. <\/p>\n \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to be careful because you don\u2019t want to make a kid think, \u2018Oh, I got to get two hits to be in the lineup tomorrow.\u2019 If he\u2019s up there, and he\u2019s having good at-bats, and he\u2019s hitting the ball hard, even if they don\u2019t fall, if he\u2019s not just giving up with two strikes, and he\u2019s showing that he can lay off bad pitches with two strikes and stuff like that. You might think I\u2019m crazy when I say this. I learned this from my dad a long time ago. Sometimes guys hit pop ups, but there\u2019s a difference between pop ups. Sometimes, they just missed, and they had a great cut at it. It\u2019s a big league pop-up. Other times, they\u2019re being very defensive, and it\u2019s just like a little lazy pop-up to the opposite field. Well, those are things that I look at to see what I can see for the long term with a player. And if he\u2019s got that competitive zeal, any player has that competitive zeal, I just have more of an inkling to continue to play that player.\u201d<\/p>\n Do you look for anything in particular this weekend or try to figure out anything in particular before SEC play starts?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWell, we\u2019ve been kind of forced to do that because of these injuries. I can\u2019t even tell you how disappointed I am about Gavin Braland. I swear I turned to Terry Rooney before the eighth inning started, and I said, \u2018I really ought to get Braland out of there, just to not have any risk of injury in these last couple innings.\u2019 But then, if I put Bakes in, I\u2019d already hit for Kaufer, and Talmadge wasn\u2019t available. Now I\u2019ve got my last catcher in the game. What happens if he gets hit with a foul tip on his hand? Who\u2019s gonna catch to finish the game? I don\u2019t even know who on the team has ever even caught before. So I said, \u2018Well, I\u2019m gonna wait till the ninth inning and then just risk it for one inning.\u2019 And then he gets hurt. I\u2019m so angry at myself. You can\u2019t get hurt when you\u2019re over here sitting on the bench. I\u2019m hard on myself, but, I mean, who could have forecasted that? The kid made an unbelievable play. It was an unbelievable hustle play. But that\u2019s the kind of player that Gavin is. He\u2019s a nice little player, I\u2019m telling you. And now he\u2019s gotten stronger. Somebody asked me a question when I pinch-hit him the other day against Clemson. He\u2019s worked hard. He\u2019s getting stronger. He\u2019s been improving each passing day. And that little experience, even against Clemson, even though he hit into a double play, probably helped him catch great for these last two games.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Everything Paul Mainieri said ahead of South Carolina\u2019s series with Morehead State<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ahead of South Carolina\u2019s three-game series with Morehead State, head coach Paul Mainieri met with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Discuss South Carolina baseball on The Insiders Forum!<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n