South Carolina baseball staff can make another moment against Gators
Program rebuilds are built on the drudgery of daily work, but there have to be moments, too.
South Carolina’s baseball program, under the direction of Mark Kingston for the first time this season, already has had one. It came on March 2 in a come-from-behind, 3-2 win over No. 14 Clemson in Founders Park.
“Everything we talk about being important shows up in these close, big games,” Kingston said at the time. “I think you continue to get that buy-in from your team when you’re in these situations and in these close games and they end up winning them because they did all the things you asked them to do, that continues to magnify and build the momentum inside the program.”
Almost every coach who turns around a program in any sport can point back to a sliver or slivers of time early in their tenure when all the coaching points came together in a positive way. If Gamecocks fans can forgive the mention of ancient history and the names of two heated rivals, the 2001 Georgia-Tennessee football game provides a good example. SEC fans will remember it as the Hobnail Boot Game, in which the Bulldogs rallied to beat the Volunteers in Neyland Stadium and announcer Larry Munson made one of iconic end-of-game calls. Mark Richt always remembered it, though, as the game that gave his program momentum. Georgia’s new motto then was “Finish the Drill” and their coach felt like they did that day, and he would mention it as a turning point occasionally throughout his 15-year tenure with the Bulldogs.
The Gamecocks now have a chance for another signature moment early in Kingston’s tenure as SEC play opens at Founders Park this weekend. Defending national champion and No. 2 Florida is coming to town, giving Kingston an abrupt welcome to college baseball’s most challenging conference.
There is no easing into an SEC schedule, Kingston emphasized Thursday, but there would be easier ways to start that seeing the Gators, who will roll out ace and potential No. 1 MLB Draft pick Brady Singer on Friday night.
“The last time I looked six of the (nation’s) top 10 were in the SEC, and I think we’re playing all of them,” Kingston said. “Every game is a grind. Every game is going to be a great challenge for us. I don’t think there’s going to be any right or wrong way to set up the schedule. You see who’s on your schedule, you prepare for them and you go get it. That’s the only way you can approach it. You prepare yourself well and then you leave it all on the field when it’s time to play.”
South Carolina didn’t win that Clemson series, dropping the two games following the opener, but that one moment was an investment in the program’s future. The Gamecocks can make another one against the Gators.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Kingston said. “If we win games, that’ll be great. If we don’t have the kind of weekend we want from a win-loss standpoint, we will still learn a lot about our team. It’s all positive from my standpoint. We’re going to attack it and whatever happens, happens. We are not going to back down from anybody at any time.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 2:18 PM with the headline "South Carolina baseball staff can make another moment against Gators."