His return to the mound was brief, but it was the highlight of Mark Kingston’s night
When it comes to 5-4 midweek wins in the midst of a rough start to SEC play, there isn’t always a unambiguous positive a baseball coach can point to as a sign of progress.
But South Carolina coach Mark Kingston had one Tuesday — three strikeouts and a scoreless inning from junior Sawyer Bridges, just what he always wanted from the right-handed reliever.
“That was by far his best outing of the year,” Kingston said of Bridges’ sixth inning, which included a two-out double but nothing more. “That’s something that we gotta have. For me that was the highlight of the night. The win was great, we did a lot of good things, but without questions that was the highlight of the night, seeing that that is still in there. Every time we put him out there, that was what we were hoping to see, and that was as good as he’s been, by far, this year.
Early on this season, Kingston would often ask his star closer to get six, seven or even eight outs to secure wins. After a stellar sophomore campaign in which he posted a 1.35 ERA and five saves, Bridges was considered by far the most reliable arm in the Gamecock bullpen.
Something was off, though. Bridges gave up a crucial home run in the ninth inning on opening day, then surrendered three runs in the last inning to Utah Valley. His ERA climbed into the high fives, and opposing batters hit around .280 off of him.
Kingston seemed as perplexed as anyone by the issue — he called it a “weird injury” where Bridges’ arm would feel fine one day, then devoid of life the next.
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t get to me,” Bridges said. “Some days you have it, some days you don’t. Some days it’s in the bullpen and I’ll have it and then the next day it just feels worse.”
Things reached a tipping point towards the end of March. Against Tennessee, Bridges came in in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and no outs, South Carolina leading by one. An RBI groundout, single, wild pitch and sac fly scored three runs and cost USC the game. Afterward, Bridges guaranteed that he would be better moving forward.
But before Carolina’s next SEC series against Auburn, Bridges tweaked his hamstring covering first base during a drill. He was still able to throw some, but Kingston kept him sidelined, letting him work on things.
That led to Tuesday’s appearance, his first in nine games, and a noticeable uptick in velocity — the radar gun at Founders Park clocked Bridges’ fastball at 93 miles per hour on multiple occasions. He also kept the score knotted at three, setting up the Gamecocks to take the lead the next inning and giving him the win.
“I’m just happy every time I’m out there, and I love this group of guys and I’m glad we got the win. I knew, 3-3 ballgame, it was just nice not to screw up a game for us honestly, because I was serious what I said after (Tennessee), so I was just happy that I was able to hold up my end for tonight,” Bridges said.
Moving forward, however, Bridges knows there will be days when his arm doesn’t feel as good as it did against Charlotte. And the difference between those days and Tuesday can be almost impossible to predict, he said. All he can do is try to overcome it.
“The level of effort and what I bring to the mound is the same, even when I was 80, 83 (miles per hour) early in the season and then when I hit 93. So that part is really frustrating,” Bridges said. “But I’ve been successful at managing that in the past. Last year I did it. It’s just a matter of me getting guys out (whether) my arm feels good or my arm doesn’t feel good.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2019 at 10:46 AM.
