‘We have very educated fans’: USC baseball balances turnover, high hopes for 2019
After a disappointing 2017, South Carolina baseball came roaring back to life this past season, advancing to within one win of the College World Series and ending the year ranked among the nation’s top 15 teams.
For a program with two national titles and 11 CWS appearances to its name, 2018 was a welcome return to form, and the fact that it happened in coach Mark Kingston’s first season with the Gamecocks only excited fans more — imagine what he could do with his first full recruiting class and a year of experience under his belt.
Tempering those expectations, however, is the fact that USC will have to replace almost its entire lineup and most of its weekend rotation. That’s something Kingston told The State in an August interview. He is confident fans will understand heading into fall practice and eventually the 2019 season.
“The fans of our program are very smart. They see when you have a lot of people returning, they know when you lose a lot of players, so I think we have very educated fans and I think they have a feel for what to expect before a season ever starts,” Kingston said.
What do the Gamecocks lose from the team that took the field against Arkansas in the Super Regionals? Their catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, left fielder (a third-round draft pick), designated hitter, two of three starting pitchers and a key reliever.
In their place, Kingston thinks USC has the talent to keep playing at a high level, as long as the coaching staff can extract every last bit of it from the players.
“I look at this year’s team very similar to last year’s, where we have a lot of new players to learn, we have a lot of roles to figure out, but we’ll remain very optimistic that we’ll maximize the talents of this team,” Kingston said. “So it’s way too early to make any predictions on what next year’s team may look like in terms of results, but I think we’ll have players that we can really bring along to give us the kind of results we all hope for.”
Maximizing talent was key to the success South Carolina had in 2018, and Kingston said he believes that trend can be built upon moving forward.
“I just felt like it was a very good year in terms of getting the most out of that team, and I also feel like we did a good job for trying to set the tone for our future for how we’re going to do things, our style of play. The first year was very important for all those reasons,” Kingston said.
Who will start where in 2019 is still a topic Kingston isn’t willing to dive too deep into, at least publicly, but it seems likely that the eight junior college transfers he is bringing in will contribute in some fashion, especially outfielder Andrew Eyster, who earned MVP honors in the prestigious Valley Baseball League this summer.
Sophomore Noah Campbell also enjoyed a torrid summer, nearly winning the batting title in the Cape Cod Baseball League and making the All-League team.
For both players, Kingston said there is “absolutely” reason for fans to take their summer performances as potential indicators of what their 2019 seasons might look like.
“I don’t think you can just overlook it and say it doesn’t mean anything, because it does. To play that well in those leagues with wood bats, I think that shows you got some good players there you can really build with,” Kingston said.
This story was originally published August 21, 2018 at 2:23 PM.