Why is South Carolina struggling in baseball?
After a sweeping loss to rival Clemson, the Gamecocks were outplayed in a midweek loss to then-two-win Xavier, falling to 7-5 on the year.
So how did things get here?
For full context, the seeds for the inadequacy were planted a decade ago.
After two national titles in three consecutive World Series appearances, Ray Tanner stepped aside to become the schools athletic director, and named assistant coach Chad Holbrook to the head gig.
Over the next five years, Holbrook labored under what can now be called unrealistic expectations, going 199-105, while amassing a 91-67 conference record. The time included three trips to the post season, two super regional apperances and three 40-win seasons.
But, no CWS appearances, no national titles.
After the 2017 season, Holbrook was gone and Tanner turned the program over to Kingston, who parlayed successful stints at Illinois State and South Florida, going a combined 273-180-1 (.600 winning percentage).
Kingston, known for his team's offensive ability, looked to cure the issue of ineffective offense that marred the Holbrook era.
Since his arrival, the Gamecocks have zero 40-win seasons and have two tournament appearances, with one trip to the super regionals in his first year.
To gauge the tenure, we will look at team batting average, strikeout-to-walk ratio and total RBI on offense, team ERA for pitching and team fielding percentage, namely, how many runs are you giving up and how solid is your defense.
We're also calling the 2020 season a mulligan due to the COVID 19 cancellation. For fariness though, the team started 12-4, and I'll put the numbers up.
No question Kingston's first year is his best, and the 37-26 record shows that. That team had the highest batting average (.275), a decent K-BB ratio (1.58) and had the most team RBI (357). The pitching staff was fair at 4.41 ERA and the team defense was .980.
For the rest of the seasons, see below:
Year Bat Avg. K-BB RBI ERA FP
2018 .275 1.58 357 4.41 .980
2019 .236 2.28 284 5.51 .972
2020 .272 1.56 103 2.81 .970
2021 .246 1.12 299 3.8 .976
2022 .282 1.22 71 5.05 .975
To extrapolate, this year's team is currently on pace for roughly 247 more RBI for the year, but looking at the last four games, the team would likely register only 126 more. So, we will take the average of those two extremes and say you can expect roughly 187 more RBI, putting the projection at 258 for the year, and the lowest full-season of his tenure.
And again in the sake of fairness, though it can also be taken as generous, the 2020 squad was on pace for 245 more, putting the season total at 348, but those numbers again came before conference play, and against Clemson and a historically bad Northwestern program, they average 4.6 runs/game in those six contests.
The issues that were raised on Kingston's teams starting in year two -- low batting average, poor plate discipline, sub-par defense -- have persisted. The solid pitching that was prevelant under Holbrook covered a lot, but this year that has been exposed.
The excuse of personnel isn't valid: In year 5 it is that coach's team with all the prior staff holdovers gone, with the exception of one or two players. Also, both assistant coaches were replaced. Which leaves just one constant: Mark Kingston.
Looking at this season, no question, the major injuries to the pitching staff have effected things, but it has revealed issues going back to Kingston's first season in Columbia. The offensive mindset isn't working and hasn't worked since, ironically, the first year with a roster full of players he didn't recruit.
Is there time to turn things around? Of course there is. But the next three weekends against No. 1 Texas, an improved Tennessee and a juggernaught Vanderbilt squad, could very well kill many of the goals this year's team had by April 1.
Simply put, the Gamecocks are who they are, and have been this way for going on five years. It is hard to see that changing in just a few weeks.
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