2023 season restored hope in South Carolina baseball — and Mark Kingston

Around this time a year ago, South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston was on the defensive. He had to be. The Gamecocks suffered their first losing season since 1996, missed the playoffs and — as is often the case when a team struggles in Columbia — a sizable segment of fans clamored for a coaching change.

Sitting at the post-game dais at the SEC Tournament last year, Kingston argued his team would’ve been in a much better position had it not experienced a litany of devastating injuries, most of which impacted the pitching staff. USC athletic director and former baseball coach Ray Tanner was sympathetic to the argument, extending Kingston’s contract during the offseason. Even still, the sense coming into Kingston’s sixth season was that it was do-or-die.

Fast forward to Saturday night at the Gainesville Super Regional. A somber Kingston once again addressed the media on the heels of his team’s elimination. But everything about the moment felt different.

Kingston wasn’t on the defensive this time. He didn’t need to be. His Gamecocks (42-21) were one of the last 16 teams standing in the country, posted their best record in the Kingston Era and lost to a No. 2 Florida (50-15) team that has as good a chance as any to hoist a national championship trophy in a couple weeks.

“I don’t want to really make this about me,” Kingston said, his eyes still red from addressing his grieving players. “I made a concerted effort this year to just try to make sure that I pushed these guys but also allowed them to have fun — much more than I ever had. And I encouraged the love among each other and encouraged them to enjoy the process much more than I ever have.

“And along the way, they helped me do the same.”

Founders Park is a pressure cooker. Tanner’s retired No. 1 painted on the left-field wall is an incessant reminder of where the program was a decade ago. Ever since the Gamecocks won back-to-back College World Series titles in 2010 and 2011, anything less than an Omaha trip can feel like failure.

But for all the heat Kingston took a year ago, his 2023 season at the helm should be viewed as a success — an evolution, even. The 53-year-old led a remarkable turnaround from last year’s 27-28 finish, leading USC to its first super regional since 2018, and it wasn’t by pure luck. He tweaked his formula, and he systematically addressed the weaknesses that plagued the Gamecocks in 2022.

After the Gamecocks finished at the bottom of the SEC in nearly every hitting category last year, Kingston made it a mission to overhaul the offense. He brought in his former rival coach Monte Lee from Clemson to serve as hitting coach, and the Gamecocks raved about his contributions throughout the season. Players like catcher Cole Messina and third baseman Talmadge LeCroy took massive steps forward under Lee’s tutelage.

Emulating a model set by Jim Schlossnagle in his first year at Texas A&M, Kingston was aggressive in tapping the transfer portal for offensive pieces. Transfers like Will McGillis, Gavin Casas and Dylan Brewer entrenched themselves as everyday starters and leaders. On the recruiting trail, the Gamecocks pulled in outfielder Ethan Petry with little fanfare yet helped develop him into one of the best freshmen in the country. He finished the season leading the team in batting average and setting a USC freshman record with 23 home runs.

Perhaps the biggest change Kingston made is the one that’s most difficult to quantify. From the very beginning of the season, Kingston had a looser feel — a lightness that he didn’t have through the rigors of last season. Encouraging his players to have fun and express their personalities was a mantra from Day 1. He talked often before the season about the importance of establishing team chemistry, and he brought the Gamecocks to Fort Jackson multiple times throughout the year so they could bond together in the trenches and by climbing walls and digging through mud.

Kingston’s looseness trickled down to his players, and when the Gamecocks were at their best this season, they had an undeniable swagger about them. The bat flips, the dugout hi-jinks, the David Cromer bodyguard act — those things might seem trivial, but for a group of 18- to 21-year-olds they can help reduce the pressure that comes with playing in front of a fan base with an Omaha-or-bust mentality.

A sweep of Florida, a series win over Clemson, a 34-6 start to the season — those are the on-paper high points from a 42-win season. But Kingston might’ve done his best coaching in the final month of the season in the way he managed his players’ emotions and kept them connected despite a rash of injuries and four straight SEC series losses.

“The only voice that mattered was the voice inside that building, having a leader like Coach King or like Monte and the guys in the locker room,” starting pitcher Jack Mahoney said. “Sometimes it gets a little rough around (Columbia) when you’re losing, if I’m being honest. And we didn’t care. We knew we were good. We know we were gonna make a run.”

That run came in the Columbia Regional, where the Gamecocks ran through Central Connecticut State, N.C. State and Campbell in the same way they dominated through the first 40 games of the season, outscoring their regional opponents 41-11.

USC ran into a wall against the Gators and particularly on Saturday against pitcher Hursten Waldrep, who could be a first-round pick in this summer’s MLB Draft. Saturday’s 4-0 loss was an emotional blow, but Kingston used it as a teaching point.

“As I told the guys, they learned an awful lot this year — non-baseball lessons,” Kingston said. “We were, for 40 games, the best team in the country. Then for a month, we struggled. And we took a step back. We made some adjustments, and we stuck together through thick and thin.

“There’s just so much that these guys will be able to take with them for the rest of their lives, lessons about teamwork, about discipline about sacrifice.”

But the players weren’t the only ones to learn from this 2023 season. Their head coach grew, too.