SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 20, 2025

Paul Mainieri

Nathan Hall

Ty Evans

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

South Carolina Gamecocks

Postgame Press Conference

Florida 11, South Carolina 3

PAUL MAINIERI: Well, I thought we'd have a tough game today. Obviously, Florida has got outstanding players. Got off to a start there, bases led, nobody out in the first inning, and they only could get one run out of it, and they turned around and hit the three-run home run, and after that, a couple more home runs. We had opportunities, just couldn't capitalize on them. So in the end, it was kind of the story of our season really.

The other team hit home runs, we didn't hit any or haven't hit many. We've left a lot of runners on base. Ultimately, the better team won.

Q. Nathan, after the season has ended now, what has this year meant to you being a Gamecock here for one year?

NATHAN HALL: It wasn't what we wanted as a team, but I couldn't be more thankful for Coach Mainieri and Monte Lee and Coach Rooney for giving me an opportunity to play here. It's easy for a staff like this to see what I've done in the past and not believe in me, not give me a shot. To be able to play every day in the best conference in college baseball at an amazing program, it's been a true blessing. It's been amazing.

Q. Along those lines, how do you feel like your season went for you personally? Did you feel like you were able to live up to your expectations?

NATHAN HALL: You know, I feel like regardless of how I do, I never really live up to my expectations. I am a little bit disappointed that I could have done a better job for the team in the back half of the season, but it is what it is, and you've got to take each game one day at a time, and I feel like I did a good job with that.

Q. Nathan, you're one of four players that have an average over .300. How do you feel like your mechanics can transition over if you want to play at the next level?

NATHAN HALL: Yeah, I feel like I'm in a good spot. The main thing is just staying -- being confident, knowing that I'm good enough. There's going to be failure; there's going to be stuff that happens.

Q. Paul, you talked last summer about part of the attraction of the job being the program wasn't in the doldrums and you felt like you were close. Now that the program is in the doldrums after this year, is it the same energy for you going into next year and beyond?

PAUL MAINIERI: Yeah, you know, it was a tough year. I'm not used to these kinds of seasons, quite frankly. Got off to a rough start when we lost what we thought was going to be our Friday night starter before the season began, Eli Jerzembeck when he got hurt in preseason. And then shortly after that, Nolan Nawrocki, who we thought would be our second baseman and hit a bunch of home runs, was never really himself, and now he's having knee surgery.

And then you look at Thomas LeCroy who broke his thumb the second inning of the first game of the year, and never swung the bat the way he could, and when he hurt his hip, he was out for the year. And then, of course, the last month without Petry. I'm not making excuses. It's just reality. We didn't have the depth to overcome some of those things.

I'm an optimist by nature, and I thought that we would have what it took to compete in this league. Evidently, obviously, we didn't, the way the season went. But it hasn't -- I'm disappointed, but not discouraged. We're working really hard in recruiting. We've already lined up some really, really good players for next year through the junior college ranks. We have a few guys in the freshman class the previous staff had recruited that we're real excited about.

And then, we're anxious for the transfer portal to open on June 2nd, and we're obviously going to need a lot of players there.

We've recruited already a really outstanding high school class of 2026, so I think the future is bright for our program. Like I said, I'm disappointed about this year, but I'm not discouraged about the future. We're just going to keep rolling up our sleeves and working hard at it, and hopefully, we're going to be a lot better next year.

Q. ^ Ck the coaching staff had the worst ERA in program history this year. Do you still believe in Terry Rooney as a pitching coach or do you consider restructuring your coaching staff in any way?

PAUL MAINIERI: No. Terry Rooney is here to stay. He's an outstanding coach, great recruiter, great pitching coach. You do the best you can. We'll get better. We need to -- we had some young kids, I think, that showed flashes of being pretty good for us, and we're going to get some kids in recruiting, and we've got a couple freshmen coming in that I think are going to help us. Yeah, Terry Rooney is here to stay. He's not going anywhere. He's an outstanding coach, and he'll prove that as we go forward, and there won't be any other changes with our staff.

Q. How do you feel about -- you know, with Florida's pitching, Bartolo and Rodriguez flat out dominated today. What do you see in what you guys can accomplish this fall? You talked about the recruiting class a few minutes ago. How do you feel about guys that you can have deep innings, whether it's the back end of the pen or maybe certain stars that can heat up going into the fall season?

PAUL MAINIERI: Man, I'm not sure what the question was. What was the question?

Q. How did you feel about what Florida matched up against with Bartolo and Rodriguez pitching and what you guys want to accomplish with the recruiting class for this upcoming fall for you guys?

PAUL MAINIERI: As far as our pitching goes? Like I said, we're going to go out and recruit the best kids we can and get some quality arms and build upon the guys we have in our program that we think have a good future, and I think we'll be a lot better next year.

Q. After the season you guys have had here, do you feel you have the full support of the administration to be able to turn this thing around the way you see that it's possible?

PAUL MAINIERI: Yes. Very simply, yes.