USC baseball recruits pleased with progress in Mark Kingston's first season
Daniel Lloyd was wavering on his commitment to play baseball at South Carolina but one phone call changed that.
New Gamecocks’ coach Mark Kingston called the Summerville pitcher, who committed under former coach Chad Holbrook but wasn’t thinking of looking at other options after the coaching change.
“I didn’t know what I wanted,” Lloyd said. “Coach Kingston called me and I loved the way he talked to me. He knew who I was and everything about me. I decided to commit back and I am I did.
“I am excited to see all the improvement and see what coach Kingston does with me.”
Lloyd ended up signing with USC and was one of five Gamecocks signees playing in the South Carolina Baseball Coaches All-Star games Tuesday and Wednesday at Lexington High School. Swansea’s Josiah Sightler, St. James’ Jacob English, Cane Bay’s Dylan Harley, Northwestern’s Wesley Sweatt and Lloyd were playing in the North-South select game.
The future USC teammates spent the last couple days getting to know each other All but Sightler are expected to be enrolled in Columbia at some point this summer. Sightler is expected to be taken in the MLB Draft on June 4-6 and will have to choose between college and turning pro.
Some of the talk this week between the future Gamecocks have been about the job Kingston has done in his first season. After a slow start, USC won five straight Southeastern Conference series to close the year and won its conference tournament opener against Missouri early Wednesday morning.
The Gamecocks won’t have to sweat out when NCAA tournament selections are announced Monday.
“He has got them pointed in the right direction,” said Sweatt who picked up the save in Tuesday’s North-South Select game. “The new coaching staff brings new energy and are very upbeat. They have a lot of upside going into the postseason and next year.”
Sweatt, a pitcher, has been to a couple games this season and is in regular contact with the coaching staff. The same is true for English, the younger brother of former Gamecock Tanner English.
Jacob English committed to play at USC before the coaching change. Once Kingston was hired, he reassured English they still had a spot for him on the team.
“I knew Ray Tanner would make a good coaching decision and pick a good coach,” said English, who hit .347 and stole 27 bases in his senior season. “So I stayed true to my roots and coach Kingston. I think he is really doing a good job. It is hard to come in the first year and turn program around. I’m excited to get up there.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2018 at 1:31 PM with the headline "USC baseball recruits pleased with progress in Mark Kingston's first season."