University of South Carolina pitcher #23 Lee Gronkiewicz gets a strike out in the eighth inning and later picked up his nation leading 18th save as the Gamecocks defeat the University of Central Florida Golden Knights 9-7 in Game 6 Sunday 5/27/2001 in the NCAA Regional in Columbia, SC. Erik Campos/The State
A few weeks ago, former USC pitcher Lee Gronkiewicz hoped to use an exhibition game against the Columbia Blowfish as a chance to take another shot at professional baseball.
Instead, Gronkiewicz was named the new coach of the Blowfish on Thursday and earned his first win in Friday night’s 5-0 exhibition victory against the USC Alumni.
“There’s a lot to it. A lot more than I thought,” Gronkiewicz said. “I was on the phone this morning with (USC) coach (Ray) Tanner going over stuff with him because I didn’t know what to do. So I went to the best and coach Tanner is the best.”
After dropping a 3-2 decision to Florence the night before, the Blowfish returned to Capital City Stadium for Gronkiewicz’s home debut and the third installment of their annual Fourth of July exhibition against the USC Alumni.
Of the 19 players on the Alumni roster, 11 played with Gronkiewicz during his time with the Gamecocks. The familiar faces caused some mixed emotions.
“Those are my friends. Those aren’t just Gamecocks,” Gronkiewicz said. “I wanted to put on the Carolina jersey today. But fortunately I had different arrangements where I had to come out with the Blowfish. But if I wasn’t with the Blowfish I would have been over there pitching with Carolina.”
The Blowfish scored two runs in each of the first two innings off Gamecocks starter Blake Taylor and jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
Columbia added another run in the fourth on Catlin Carter’s RBI triple to cap the scoring. Carter and No. 8 hitter Jim Rider combined to go 5-for-8 and were responsible for plating three of the team’s five runs.
With the “Gamefish” cup series tied up at one game apiece, the Blowfish have now claimed two wins in a row after taking last year’s game 4-1. The Gamecocks took the inaugural game 8-5 in 2007.
Alumni team “owner” Trey Dyson was happy his old teammate earned the victory, even if it did come at the expense of his own team.
“Gronk is a great friend of mine. He’s what I was telling people earlier, the word perseverance is Lee Gronkiewicz,” Dyson said. “He wants to get into coaching. Hopefully this will be a good start for him. I’m really happy for him and want to see him do well, and I know he will.”
Following the win, the Blowfish players gave their new skipper a traditional Gatorade bath. It was a cool welcome to a new chapter in his baseball career.
“I’m loving it so far,” Gronkiewicz said. “I didn’t think I’d be a manager to tell you the truth. I’d always expected to be a pitching coach. I look forward to it.”
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