One glaring problem from South Carolina’s Opening Weekend series win
It may have been the first loss of the season, but it felt more like a carryover from the 29 that came a season ago, an extension of the same issues that have continually plagued South Carolina.
The Gamecocks weren’t at their best Friday, but as the more talented team, they were able to overcome some of their flaws and grind out a doubleheader sweep of Northern Kentucky. Relying on talent alone, however, isn’t a long-term solution.
South Carolina endured a rough afternoon at the plate in a 3-2 loss to the Norse in Saturday’s series finale. The Gamecocks managed just five hits, two for extra bases, and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
For the weekend, those struggles were even more pronounced. South Carolina finished 4-for-30 with runners in scoring position and 10-for-47 with runners on base. It’s a trend that feels similar to last season’s issues, though it may not have been the most concerning problem to surface.
After playing 18 innings on Friday, head coach Paul Mainieri admitted his team was tired heading into Saturday’s finale. As a result, he felt he didn’t have them ready to play with a chance to complete a series sweep, an opportunity that could have provided needed momentum after last season’s struggles.
“I just kind of felt like they played like they were very tired from yesterday,” Mainieri said. “No matter what you try to do to inspire them sometimes, it just doesn’t work. I just felt like everything was in slow motion today. We were doing a lot of walking around. Our bat speed wasn’t good. We’re swinging at bad pitches. I thought we were going to go the other direction today. I thought they’d be really excited about playing.”
As a reminder, it was only the second day of the regular season. The Gamecocks had been scrimmaging since late January and were already managing injuries. Still, Northern Kentucky appeared unfazed by the quick turnaround after playing two games on Opening Day.
The Norse weren’t much better with runners on base, but they made the necessary plays in key moments and received quality outings from their pitching staff to salvage the series.
Mainieri felt his team looked “lethargic” when they took the field on Saturday. He had texted with some of his players the night before, including Tyler Bak, whose legs were cramping after going 3-for-5 with four RBI in Friday’s doubleheader nightcap win.
Because of this, as well as others feeling sore and cramping, they decided not to take on-field batting practice before the game. They instead hit in the indoor batting cages to let their bodies heal. That came to be a decision that Mainieri regretted, especially since the bats struggled for most of the weekend.
“Maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do. We should have just gone through a batting practice session,” he said. “If guys were too sore to play, I should have just played somebody else. I just thought we’d be hitting better than we are.”
Mainieri also played almost all of the players who played in both games of the doubleheader. With a new-look group and an offense that’s supposed to be improved, he perhaps could’ve played a few different players to give others a rest. But it wasn’t that simple.
“Who am I going to take out? (KJ) Scobey? Dawson (Harman)? I mean, these guys have been what you think could be your best players,” Mainieri said. “Scobey got a couple of hits, but then had a couple of not so good at-bats. Same with Dawson. He didn’t have any hits today. But look all around the field. The guys that you think are your better guys, you go with them, but you just hope that they’re inspired.”
With 53 games still remaining, this won’t be the last time South Carolina finds itself in a quick-turnaround situation. The Gamecocks are scheduled to play a doubleheader against Princeton on March 7, followed by a day game the next afternoon.
“Hopefully they learn from this,” Mainieri said. “And yeah, we’ll have a doubleheader with Princeton on a Saturday, and we’ll have a Sunday game, so we’ll see how ready they are if we have to play some different guys the next day.”
First Appeared on
Source link
