Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Game Cox, the softball team and women's golf teams both finish their seasons, and then the baseball team finished their regular season in a preview of what is ahead in the SEC tournament. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:58] Okay. Welcome to episode 243 of Cox Talking Game Cox. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001 and shit.
[00:01:16] I mean, dang, I started, what was it, last episode or two episodes ago? I started saying, I'm feeling a little downtrodden. I'm feeling a little downtrodden right now. It has just been a tough couple of days, week or two, really, to be a South Carolina Gamecocks fan. It's never easy for us. You know, we talk about the highs and the lows of Gamecock fandom, and there are certainly some fantastic highs, but there also tend to be some low lows. With that, I'm going to dive into everything that is bringing the mood down, which really revolves around the baseball program right now. I'm going to dive into all that in just a second here. But hope y'all had a great weekend out there outside of the sports and are ready to have a fun and exciting week here. Memorial Day weekend right around the corner. Absolutely love it. That is really the, that's the start of the summer for me, if you ask. Right? You get that long weekend, the weather has turned, and you say, gosh darn it, I am ready to go out, have a barbecue and drink some cold ones with me in mind. And, yeah, we got to get through the week, though. It's going to be a long one. SEC tournament going on, professional sports playoffs going on. There's some stuff to keep us occupied, though, and to get us there. But, yeah, so let me jump into a weekend recap for y'all here, and then I will jump into the baseball situation and we'll get y'all out of here. So looking at the weekend here, Friday, you had softball beat Utah two to one to begin their regionals. They were in the, I believe was the Durham regional of the NCAA tournament. Then you had the women's golf team. They got started in the NCAA championship rounds on Friday. Of course, that's all a cumulative effort there. Saturday, softball lost to Duke, eight nothing. And then that brings us to Sunday, where the women's golf team finished 23rd in the NCAA championships. Their season is over, unfortunately, not bringing home any hardware. But, hey, they had a heck of a year. I mean, following them and reporting to y'all on the scores and things like that. There were multiple tournament wins throughout the year. You had some fantastic individual efforts as well. So shout out to the women's golf team because they really did have a heck of a year. And then in the postseason, they had that surge to even make it to this round. So hats off to them. Shout out to the women's golf team. And then softball on Sunday. They beat Utah five to one, but then faced Duke and unfortunately lost ten to one, thus also ending their season. And softball, you know, they might have struggled a little bit in league play, but they had a solid season themselves. They got to the, they got to the regional, fought really hard, and unfortunately just came up empty there. But it's, you know, that time of year where we're seeing some of the spring sports finish up, you know, women's golf, softball, and it's a little sad. You know, it's, summer is a good time. Everyone gets to chill and things like that. But, you know, we love our gamecocks. And to hit that lull, which is rapidly approaching of really no scores to report and things like that, it is a little sad, but we still have some tennis action this week to look forward to. And then, of course, we have the baseball SEC tournament as well. And then we'll see what happens beyond that here, which is a perfect segue to talk about the yard. Cox here, as all eyes really were on the baseball team as the guys wrapped up their regular season in Knoxville was a series against the top ranked Tennessee volunteers. And, you know, it really came at a tricky time for this team. And spoiler alert. I mean, it's not really a spoiler, but, you know, things didn't get much better for South Carolina as the team suffered their second consecutive sweep and really ended their, their regular season here on about as low of a note as you can, but certainly the lowest for this team all season. And I say that this series came at a tricky time because obviously it would now, at this point, it's two weekends ago at home, you get swept by Georgia. There's all these concerns about the pitching rotation, things like that, worrying about how are you going to face in, you know, a potential regional and things like that. So you were really hoping that you could find some answers, and then you get thrown to the Wolves, really, in Knoxville against a team that is really just as hot as you could ask for. Number one team by most reports here, and it's tricky. You know, I saw some people talk about this on social media, and I agreed. And that environment in Knoxville, it just looked fun.
[00:06:27] And I don't know if we really had that a lot this year in founders, you know, or earlier in the season for sure. You know, against Georgia, you had some good crowds, but there hasn't been that, like, oomph. There hasn't been that like, pop. I feel like that we've seen at founders in years past this season and kind of sums up the year that this team has had. But looking at this series right here, before I get too off track here, game one, South Carolina lost nine to three. Game two, South Carolina lost eight to three. In game three, South Carolina lost four to one. And I don't want to get into the weeds with that because, you know, it's depressing, frankly. But I think a game two, it kind of summed up the current situation for South Carolina quite well. You had Garrett Ganey getting the start, who has been one of the more electric and better pitchers for South Carolina, of course, typically being used late out of the bullpen. But Mark Kingston turns to him trying to get a spark of sorts. Guy pitches well, the guy pitches his butt off, you know, goes deep, I think was five and two thirds inning or so.
[00:07:44] I think it was that 6th inning rolls around, gets into some trouble. South Carolina was winning the game at that point and gives up big runs.
[00:07:54] And it just felt like it was a situation where you had a guy who was pitching well, doing something that he hadn't really been asked to do all year.
[00:08:05] You took a risk, it was paying off. But then not having, and I'm really talking about Kingston here, like, just not having that situational awareness to maybe say, he might be out of gas a little bit. We might have to pull the cord here on this guy and to go just a little bit too long. It's just these marginal decisions that end up having huge impacts, and we've seen it time and again, pitching, rotation, lineup changes, whatever.
[00:08:37] And I think when that happened, you really just saw everyone just kind of throw their hands up and just say, I'm, I'm over it. Like, this is just not what we signed up for. And it's tough to see because now you have the Gamecocks not even limping. I mean, this team is crawling into the SEC tournament, and frankly, I think this fan base is broken. I think they're broken over this team, and it's out of passion, it's out of care.
[00:09:09] I've said it a thousand times that we as Gamecock fans take so much pride in our baseball program.
[00:09:19] But this season has so often felt disappointing, and it's come to a head now where you've been swept twice in a row, once at home, and then all of a sudden everything looks very bleak. You know, I put a poll out there on Twitter, x whatever you want to call it. I put a poll out there this weekend and it was what's a word that describes this baseball season for you? The three options I put out there were fine, bad and underwhelming. And I also put other where people could comment. No one. No one did. The other just found interesting. The vast majority of folks put underwhelming, and I think that that actually sums it up very well. Where you were coming off a season last year, where you advanced in the post season, you had a team that at a couple of different spots in the year, was really hot.
[00:10:18] You had a good mix of deep, exciting starting pitching. You had hitters who were the veteran presence, but then you had a couple of the young guys stepping up, Ethan Petrie that year. Right?
[00:10:33] So you come into this year and you're thinking you're going to have this still exciting and deep lineup. Maybe there were a few questions about the starting pitching, but that could be overcome. And yes, this team has won some games, this team has won some series, but it does feel like against that meat of the SEC season and these last two series where you really needed it most, team didn't really show up. You know, like, yes, this team beat Vanderbilt and yes, this team beat Kentucky, but some of those other toss up, you tended to be on the wrong side of it. So I think underwhelming is a very appropriate word for this year where you had some high hopes, you had some expectations, you were thinking, maybe this guy has turned the corner.
[00:11:22] It just didn't happen.
[00:11:24] And I think now we're at the point where, you know, the vast majority of fans are ready for a change of leadership in this program. And although there is tournament baseball still ahead for this group, I'm personally not seeing the excitement that you want to see around this time of year and thinking about what's potentially next. But I mean, how can you blame anyone?
[00:11:52] And it's sad because I think there's a lot of people out there who want to be excited and who want to really give their all to this team and to this program. But I think they just feel let down. And I think they feel let down not by these players, of course not, but by the leadership, by the man in charge.
[00:12:13] And I think it's just come to a point now where it's been a long marriage, right? Like this is not Kingston's second or third year at the helm here. He's been here for quite some time. The sample size is large enough, and I've said it the other day, where it's not like there's this Omaha run that he can hang his hat on and you're like, well, at least he did that. And we can, you know, maybe try to rally behind that and get back to that. No, there really hasn't.
[00:12:46] And, you know, going into this series against Tennessee, I think we all knew that this series was going to be a tall task to end the year against one of the best teams in the country. But having been that close to getting that win in Saturday and then making what would have been, or, excuse me, that would have been Friday. So then going into Saturday, what would have been a rubber match that feels like a world's difference as opposed to just trying to survive Saturday.
[00:13:18] And so, you know, at this point, we just, all we have is hope, and we have to hope that Kingston can get all that he can out of this team. And then as fans, we have to also hope that Ray Tanner realizes just how much the standard has fallen in that program and hopefully he's able to make the tough decision.
[00:13:43] You know, I mean, I hate calling for a guy's job, but I think at this point that's where we're at as a fan base. You know, of course there's people who still want to have some patience and who want to give the benefit of doubt, and I don't have a problem with that. Right.
[00:14:01] Change is scary. And there is a guy in Mark Kingston who's won games, right? You're not in the, you're not in the basement of the SEC.
[00:14:10] You know, what's the wind total for the, for this team? 31 32? Something along those lines.
[00:14:17] I should know that. But, you know, brings you to the post season, has brought you the postseason. Right. But I just think it's this, it feels like you're stuck in the mud a little bit. Right. And to equate it to another program at South Carolina, it kind of feels like the Frank Martin basketball team where, yeah, you were winning some games, you were competitive at times. You would have that upset win, but then you would also have these games where you were just like, how the hell are we losing that? Or you'd have a moment like the Georgia series we just saw in baseball where you're like, this is a moment where this team has to step up, they have to be clutch.
[00:14:58] And it didn't, it didn't happen.
[00:15:01] And so you're like, well, we keep doing the same thing again and again. We're not getting any better. We're not progressing as a program.
[00:15:07] And there were a lot of people who did not want to move on from Frank Martin because of what he did for the program, made it relevant, things like that. Mark Kingston was trying to uphold the standard, and that standard has now gone down. Change is scary, but look what happened to men's basketball.
[00:15:25] A new voice is able to do something in the second year that that coach was only able to do once in ten.
[00:15:32] So we just have to see what happens, you know? But it certainly feels like these last two, two series have just really broken the spirit of this fan base. And maybe it is time for a change. But nonetheless, here, what is in store? What is up next for South Carolina? The Gamecocks are going into the SEC tournament, which will be played throughout this whole week. They enter the tournament as a ten seed.
[00:16:05] Interesting. You know, maybe that would have been different if things have gone better these last two weeks, right? The team is set to play Alabama in the first game. It's a single elimination game, will take place Tuesday.
[00:16:19] Start time approximately 02:00 p.m., now, these two teams, Alabama and South Carolina, they met. They met up all the way back in March, where Carolina traveled to Tuscaloosa. Alabama won two out of three in that series also. So, man, like, between everything that's gone on, that feels like ten years ago, doesn't it? I mean, that was off the heels of the Vanderbilt series. It really just felt like a different time in this series and this program and everything like that. But nonetheless, here, the winner of this tournament game will move into the double elimination round, and we'll be playing Arkansas. So if the gamecocks can go down to hoover and win a game or two, right, and maybe get this thing going again, maybe that's what they need. And I feel like I've been saying that, and we've all been saying that, right, where they just got to get a win or two under their belt. Because not too long ago, we did see this team performing well, and not too long ago, this team was on a winning streak, and they were playing ranked teams.
[00:17:30] The problem is, the current state of things make that feel like a distant memory, right? So it's this. On one hand, you're saying, well, man, if we can get that win and move to the next round and even, you know, get another win there, maybe that this team just needs to get that love and feeling back again, and then maybe you can get hot in the postseason, right? And that's kind of what you've heard Kingston say in some of these pressers. But it's just like, hope is not a strategy, my guy. We as fans can do that.
[00:18:04] But then on the flip side, if Carolina doesn't perform well in the SEC tournament, well, things will be looking even more dire than they are now. So bottom line, the team just needs to go down there and play well, and Kingston needs to step up and get these guys ready to go out there and do well and manage his ass off because it certainly feels like he's coaching for his job. And I don't even know if it's, if it's a salvageable, but we'll see. Of course, we're going to root our boys, and we want them to do incredibly well, no matter the cost. I want them to get past this round and let's see what happens. But with that, y'all. That wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecocks. Instagram is just the name of the show, Cox talking Gamecocks. And please, like, subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'all. Go Cox.
