Gene Cone’s perfect swing a boost for Gamecocks baseball

As a high school player at Spring Valley, Gene Cone fixated on making his swing perfect.

“You'd see him take a swing and it not be right and he'd stop and replay his swing of what should have happened,” Vikings coach Collin Liggett said. “We're sitting on the pitcher's mound waiting for him to finish so we can throw another pitch.”

That attention to detail, along with hard work, is a big reason why the South Carolina right fielder is one of the hottest hitters in the country.

Cone holds the nation’s longest hitting streak at 27 games and broke Whit Merrifield’s school record of a hit in 26 straight games Sunday against Missouri, passing the mark with a 5-for-5 performance.

The junior is hitting .457 in SEC play, second in the conference, and leads the SEC in runs scored in conference games with 26. He is in the top five in the SEC in league games in batting average, runs scored, doubles, total bases, slugging percentage, hits, walks and on-base percentage.

“There’s really no one since I’ve been here or since I’ve been in coaching that has stood out as much as he has,” USC assistant coach Sammy Esposito said of Cone’s impressive run. “From the consistency of the day in and day out and the multi-hit games, it’s hard to say you’ve seen somebody on a hotter streak.”

Cone has recorded multiple hits in five of USC’s past seven games and went 10-for-12 over the weekend against Missouri to earn SEC Player of the Week honors.

His consistent swing makes it easier for him to make contact, and for the past several weeks he has put the ball in play where defenders are not.

Cone has struck out only 14 times in 130 at bats and is third on the team in walks with 24, despite starting the seventh-most games.

“It's a short, compact, extremely balanced swing and approach that has helped him to the success he's had,” Esposito said. “He's spread out in his stance and he really doesn't stride at all. Throughout baseball and even in the big leagues you look at guys that have a big leg kick or a lot of movement, but Gene's pretty simplified. He leans back, picks his foot up and puts it right back down and there's not much hand movement in there. Gene's set in his hitting position pretty much as soon as he gets in the batter's box.”

Cone also knows who he is at the plate, a contact hitter. He enters an at-bat looking to make solid contact and isn’t concerned with hitting the ball out of the park.

“As a leadoff hitter his job is to get on base and see pitches. He does an unbelievable job of working counts and doing what needs to be done for his team,” Liggett said.

Because of the simplicity of Cone’s swing, it does not change whether he is facing a Friday-night starter in the SEC throwing 98 miles per hour, or a midweek pitcher from a smaller school throwing in the 70s or 80s.

“He's very direct with the barrel of the bat to the baseball. That's where he gives himself a chance to have success,” Esposito said. “He's got a short swing, and his barrel is in the zone for a very long time. Whether he's beat on a pitch, he has a chance to put it in play. Or if he's out in front his barrel is still in the zone so he can still get hits. It's incredible watching how simplistic his swing is and yet the high level of success he's having.”

Cone was not in the Opening Day starting lineup and was in and out of the lineup the first few weeks of the season, but he never got down and continued to work hard.

“It shows tremendous maturity by him because it's easy when you're an older guy and not playing -- after you've been playing for a long time -- to get upset and get down and not be ready to play when your number is called,” Esposito said.

Once Cone got an opportunity, he made the most of it.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Gene Cone’s perfect swing a boost for Gamecocks baseball."