Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Gamecocks, the baseball season comes to an end, and the football team releases some early season kickoff times. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:53] Okay. Welcome to episode 247, cox talking Game Cox. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And.
[00:01:09] Oh, man, I just want to. I don't know. I'm sad. I'm sad. I'm down. I'm down in the dumps. It was a tough weekend for us gamecocks over the weekend. I just want to give, like, our fan base a big hug. Like, I think that that's what anyone who really follows this baseball program needs. Just need a hug and say it's gonna be okay.
[00:01:37] Better times have to be around the corner, and the frustrations and everything that we've experienced these last couple of seasons highlighted by this last couple of months, will all one day, hopefully feel like a distant memory. And maybe. Maybe we can laugh about it. I don't know.
[00:01:57] But I hurt for our fan base right now. I'm going to get into that in a little bit. But, yeah, interesting Monday here in Gamecock Nation, but got a few announcements here, some trivia, and then I'll get into a whole diatribe recap about the baseball season, regional results and everything like that. And then I will get y'all out of here. But with baseball season officially coming to a close, that means that my summer podcast schedule will now be going into effect. So anyone who's listened to the show before, you'll know that this is sort of the routine. Any new listeners, first off, thank you very much. But in the summer months when there's just not as much action going on, the podcast will go. Will go from two days a week down to one. So, y'all know, regularly it's Monday and Friday, but in the summer, it's just Friday. So it'll be reviewing any news from, really, the last seven days of updates and things like that and will keep everybody in the loop as far as SEC news, NCAA news, and then as we get a little bit closer to football season, you know, six weeks out or so, I certainly ramp up. Talk about the schedule, position battles, all that jazz. So this week, it's kind of normal because Monday episode, but then there will be the episode on Friday, and then every Friday from there after. But, yeah, summer schedule. Everyone can relax a little bit and, yeah, appreciate y'all. But before I jump into the rest of the episode here, let's kick things off with some Gamecock trivia. Also, Gamecock fact and trivia calendar. That's prime summer season. Let's see what we got today. Oh, it's actually a fact, not some, not some trivia. So in 2019, Paul Jubb became the first Gamecocks men's tennis player in school history to win an NCAA individual title. Shout out Paul Jubb. I remember when he did that. That was electric.
[00:04:10] Very, very cool to be the first player in school history to do anything. And it's just really impressive. I mean, you went all that way till 2019, until you had a player do that and feels like since then, men's tennis has actually been pretty solid. Women's tennis, too, been pretty solid. So shout out Paul Jubb. First one to do it in the garnet and black. Very, very exciting here. But with that being said, let me jump into some news and current comings and goings from the athletic department and talking football here. Everyone's favorite subject, especially now that it's really the only thing we really got to look forward to. But the first three weeks of the season, the kickoff times were announced. So really that countdown is cooking. We are in that time of year here. So I'll go through the first three weeks with y'all, maybe give a little takes and thoughts on this here. But nonetheless, week one opener at home against Old Dominion. That game will start at 415. Interesting start time there. Game two on the road at Kentucky. This one was already announced. That game is at 330. And then week three at home against LSU. That game is actually at noon, so going to be a little bit different now. Obviously there's no CB's and the SEC, so that 330 game is actually on ABC. And then with the 415 start, I think that's just because, you know, you have the SEC network and ESPN. There's just a little bit of interesting star times here that are maybe a little irregular compared to years past. But yeah, I mean, looking at this, I think a 415 start for game one, that's fine. I think most people probably thought that was going to be a noon game. So a little bit later in the day, more time to tailgate, get excited for the opener and hopefully for those fans who are really cooking in the sun student section and things like that, they'll be able to stay and enjoy that whole second half there. But yeah, love a 415. I mean, love the 04:00 kicks. I've said it before, I've said it again. And hopefully the guys can really get off on the right foot in that first game here. Game two at Kentucky 330. That matchup has felt like it really is just night game after night game. So to see it at 330 is a bit different, but I'll take it because on the road we all know you'll take any little sliver of help that you can. And I think that game not being at night will obviously help the Gamecocks. And Kentucky in years past has had some interesting starts to their year. They're breaking in a whole bunch of new people as well. So could be a very competitive game there in the afternoon and then game three. This one kind of stinks, you know, at home against LSU at noon. Yeah, that just, that's tough, you know, and you really hope that that might have been a night game, an early season night game against LSU might be home dogs. Really hoping that you could get after it and make a statement early in the year nooner just doesn't necessarily help you do that. However, I will say I saw a crazy stat that went back many years, and South Carolina playing at home at noon has a very good record and most of the losses happened in the last like four years.
[00:07:54] So maybe there is something to playing at noon at home. And so who knows? But that will be a struggle for us fans who are in the stands at that noon game. But nonetheless, we got some kickoff times announced we can already talk about. Is this have an advantage? Does this not? And that's what this time of year is for. Hypothetical scenarios about what may or may not help us in a football game in a couple of months. So very exciting, though, we are inching our way there. Very, very exciting here.
[00:08:32] Time to come to the news of the hour, the news of the week. The team of the season, that's baseball. We all know that they were kicking off or, you know, teeing off, pitching off their regional in Raleigh this weekend. You know, everyone for the NCAA tournament is underway here. The Gamecocks were in the Raleigh regional taking on James Madison. Bryant was in there, and of course, the host team, NC State. So I'll quickly go through the scores with y'all and then we'll maybe go into some thoughts, feelings about the season and everything like that. So game one, gamecocks won in extras on a walk off, eight to seven. Col Messina, late inning hero once more and will tip it with the sack fly to score. It was a very nerve wracking, exciting, whatever adjective you want to use, game. But that felt like a tournament game, right? There were, you know, some things that maybe we could have done better. There were some breaks that we got and you ended up on top of it and you felt like maybe some of that momentum and some of that magic from the SEC tournament was still with this team. You go into the next game against the host team, moved into the winners bracket, if you will, and you come up short, six to four against the wolf pack. You saw some silly errors in this one, base running, throwing, things like that, and you still were just kind of feeling a little frustrated in that, you know, had a big error and you find yourself down, but you were thinking, well, maybe there still is hope on the horizon because you do have a little bit of wiggle room with the setup of the regionals. But game three comes around and that was really all she wrote. You go up against James Madison on Sunday and the offense comes up empty. Hitting with runners in scoring position was a struggle yet again for this team, and you end up losing two nothing and your season comes to a disappointing end. And, you know, I put it out there and I think that's what this was. This was a disappointing end to what really was a disappointing year overall. You know, you go into this regional and fans, beat writers, analysts alike, we're all saying, hey, Gamecock's got a pretty good draw here where they may be able to make a little noise. And if you are able to get out of that regional, the teams that you face could face potentially after that in the supers might be able, you might be able to hold your own against them as well. Maybe we were putting the cart before the horse a little bit, even just thinking that, but that's what you do in those situations when a bracket comes out, you say, well, what's our path look like? The path was there and you go out, you struggled in game one a little bit, but you got the win. That's all that mattered. Maybe, you know, you weren't full strength Saturday, I get it. But there were some tough mistakes and some critical times where you needed some clutch performances defensively, offensively, and again, just coming up short. And to get blanked in that last game, I understand it's a really winner go home game. So everyone's going to take things up a notch, pitchers included.
[00:12:23] You know, it was a low scoring affair from the JMU side as well, but to come up empty just really, really stinks. And so now you're at a point where, you know, you went into this year hopeful. You saw some veterans in the lineup. We were told that this should be one of the more powerful lineups in the country, and the question was really around pitching more, so starting pitching, but maybe it would be able to cover up for some of that, and I think you saw that at times, but you saw a very incomplete ball club.
[00:12:58] That's what it is. That's why this team struggled in the regional. That's why this team struggled down the stretch in the regular season, getting swept twice.
[00:13:09] And you have to look around and say, well, what are we doing with, with this? You know, and when you're in the SEC, if you're pretty good, you don't have to be great, right? If you're pretty good in the SEC, your win totals should be good because of the whole out of conference schedule that you play leading up to the league play and the midweek games. And if you can hold your own and get 1314, you know, hopefully 15 wins in the league, you're going to make the regional. You know, I know there was maybe some concern going into this, but a fine SEC team should be able to make the regionals more time than not, just by the nature of who you play, the talent that you have and things like that. So for the leadership of this team to seemingly rest on that and say, well, we've gotten into the postseason, you know, we, we gave ourselves a chance. It's all you can do. Well, I think we've had, we've heard enough of that. And you see some of the, you know, the postgame quotes that Kingston had saying, you know, we've, you know, been waiting to see, you know, us reach our full potential, waiting for this lineup to see when it's hit the full potential. But, like, we've, you've been saying that for months and years. Like, when are we actually going to see that? You know, theory is one thing, numbers are one thing, putting it in practice is an absolute different thing.
[00:14:42] I can sit here and say, well, if I do XYZ, I'm gonna be a billionaire. I have to go out there and do it, and I have to go there and deal with the adversity, and I have to deal with the human element of some of these things. Right? You can't just sit there and say, well, gave myself a shot. No, you have to go out there and take it. And I think you're seeing a reflection of, you know, just maybe not that, that go getter, right? Like, you had the lineup in place, you know, the starting pitching was off. You dealt with some injuries, you know, on that pitching staff.
[00:15:22] But we're at a point now where the University of South Carolina baseball program, once the gold standard, really across the country and in the SEC, now has fallen to kind of middle of the pack just look at the results.
[00:15:40] And you look around at the fan base and you're seeing all these very unpleasant emotions. And understandably so.
[00:15:49] You're seeing anger, you're seeing frustration, and in some cases, you're seeing the worst thing at all in a sports fan. And you're seeing apathy. And I'm not blaming any fan who feels that way, but that is a reflection of the energy leading this program right now. So this is all to say that you had a disappointing year, and you can't just say, well, he made it to the regionals, so that's okay. Making it to the regionals at USC is the bare minimum, the absolute bare minimum. I've said this before on the show. I'll say it again. It's like making a ball game.
[00:16:31] It's like getting six wins. Like, oh, nice. But that is the absolute bare minimum. Like, if Carolina football goes six and six, six and six, six and six. Like, eventually you're going to be like, what are we doing here? Like, we're not growing, you're not getting better.
[00:16:48] And when we're in what year, seven of a tenure, I think you have enough sample size, more than enough sample size to say, well, I think this is what the state of the program is under this leader.
[00:17:05] So I know the fans are not satisfied. I'm not satisfied. I hate this for our fans. I hate how this season went and came to a conclusion for the players who give it their all, who sacrifice their time, who really just want nothing more to win. You look at a guy like Cole Messina, he's giving it his all.
[00:17:25] He's going to be a Gamecock legend forever.
[00:17:29] You know, a guy like Chris Veech, Ethan Petrie, these guys put it all on the line and they come up short and they don't deserve blame. You know, we can talk, we can criticize and critique some play, but they're going out there and giving it their all, and they care.
[00:17:47] I think this year, this regionals is really the culmination of just kind of what we've seen with the current leadership in the program. So it should be a very interesting couple of days.
[00:18:03] And who knows? Maybe by the end of the week, we have a little bit more of clarity as to what's going on with the leadership of this program.
[00:18:12] Ray Tanner, this was his program.
[00:18:16] And I know that he tends to like to give coaches the benefit of the doubt. I think you've done that with Mark Kingston.
[00:18:24] I think you know what it takes to put together a winning ball club. And I think that for everybody involved. I think Mark Kingston included. I think Mark Kingston, the university, the fans, the players, anyone associated with this program right now deserves a fresh start. I do. I think it was a fine marriage, right? Got to the supers a couple of times. The consistency has not been there.
[00:18:51] So let's see what happens over the next couple of weeks. But this season has officially come to a close and it really stinks to see. I think this program needs a fresh start. We need a breath of fresh air, someone who can deliver consistently at a high level. Because the Gamecocks deserve to be in supers regularly and we really deserve to be in Omaha.
[00:19:17] Not every year, but with some sense of regularity. So we'll see how it goes over the next couple of weeks. But yeah, tough, tough end to the baseball season. I hate it for the players, hate it for our fans. Tough way to see it go. But that is a wrap on the 2024 baseball season. 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.
