South Carolina Head Baseball Coach Mark Kingston Previews Upcoming Season
We're just 23 days away from Opening Day in Columbia, and the anticipation is building for South Carolina Gamecock fans who are excited to see what's in store for the baseball team in 2024. On Wednesday, head coach Mark Kingston met with the local media to talk about his team and the upcoming season before preseason practices begin on Friday.
In terms of the squad's makeup this year, it's the polar opposite of what Kingston fielded a year ago, as the batting lineup is full of proven commodities while pitching staff has questions in terms of how certain roles will be filled. The seventh-year coach, however, believes the pieces are there for the pitching staff to round into form once the season starts.
"I think it's pretty safe to say our offense is going to be really good and I think that's probably why we're ranked where we are right now, but I think our pitching has a chance to respond exactly the way our offense did last year," Mark stated. "They're being challenged every day, but I think we've got some really good candidates both for the rotation, for the bullpen, and I expect our pitching to step up, just like our hitting did last year."
The Gamecocks return eight hitters and four pitchers who played an integral in the team's run to the Super Regionals in 2023, their first such appearance since Marks' first season with South Carolina back in 2018. That success has seemingly parlayed into the offseason, both on and off the field, according to Kingston.
"I think last year was a really good year for us to kind of show that that we, we're getting this thing exactly where we want it to be. We've built on the momentum in the transfer portal. We've built on the momentum and recruiting the younger high school kids at this point, and I think the returning players know that this is what we're capable of doing," Mark explained. At one point, we were a national championship contender last year until we lost two-thirds of our weekend rotation and we lost catcher in a shortstop in the second baseman. At one point we were a national championship contender. So I think that's bringing that buzz into the building that we're back there where we want to be, where we need to be."
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