Once the talented crop of freshmen understood - and embraced - the "South Carolina way" of playing baseball, the Gamecocks flourished.
Clearly, one of the key reasons USC was able to reach the College World Series for the third straight year was the willingness of older players such as Michael Roth, Matt Price, Evan Marzilli and Christian Walker to show the younger guys how it's done.
Such as, how to deal with demanding coach Ray Tanner.
"I've said it before, it's not easy playing for me as a newcomer," Tanner said following the Super Regional victory over Oklahoma. "It was tough on those (younger) guys. There's a process you go through, there's an initiation. You have to earn your stripes. As long as I've been coaching and as long as I'm still coaching, that's not going to change. That's the way it's supposed to be. You don't just roll in here and have anything given to you. You have to earn it."
The indoctrination starts immediately when the freshmen arrived on campus for the start of fall classes. Soon, fall practice begins and the players must quickly demonstrate that they're capable of handling the pressure of playing major college baseball.
Some fall by the wayside, some thrive.
"Sometimes, there's a setback," Tanner said. "It's two steps back and one step forward. It was tough on these guys at the beginning. It's a talented recruiting class. Sometimes when you have that, they roll in and they say, 'We're here.' They understand quickly that it's not about them. All those pats they've had on the back, it's over and done with."
Two early lessons young USC players must grasp - Tanner adores veterans that have proven themselves, and check your ego at the dugout steps.
"This team is about these older guys," Tanner said. "You'd better listen and learn and try to respect the game and play it the right way. There were days I probably set them back a little bit. But you believe that's just the way it's supposed to be."
USC started four freshmen on Opening Day: left fielder Tanner English, catcher Grayson Greiner, designated hitter Kyle Martin and shortstop Joey Pankake.
As the season progressed, English (61 starts), Greiner (48 starts; injured in practice before NCAA tournament) and Pankake (55 starts) established themselves as mainstays in the lineup, while Martin (.323 in 65 at-bats), TJ Costen (.275 in 51 at-bats) and Connor Bright (75 at-bats) contributed from time to time.
Paul Collins
Tanner English and Evan Marzilli meshed well in the outfield.
The freshmen shined the brightest in the top of the seventh inning when the suspended Game 2 of the Super Regional was resumed on Monday. With the game scoreless, Bright led off with a double against arguably Oklahoma's best relief pitcher, Steven Okert.
Costen pinch-ran for Bright and scored the game's first run moments later, when English laid down a sacrifice bunt and OU first baseman Evan Mistich inexplicably fired wide of the third-base bag in an attempt to get Costen.
English ended up on second base and eventually scored on a wild pitch with two outs.
On the mound, left-hander Jordan Montgomery was elevated to the weekend rotation and carries a 5-1 record and 4.05 ERA in 66.2 innings into the College World Series, while Evan Beal (4-4, 4.02 ERA in 47 innings) pitched meaningful innings out of the bullpen.
Nine of the 27 players on the Super Regional roster were true freshmen.
In terms of batting average, English (.306) and Pankake (.286) are the second- and fourth-leading hitters among the regulars on the team entering USC's first game of the College World Series, on Saturday against No. 1 Florida.
Martin (.323) and Costen (.275) have the highest batting averages among the reserves. Pankake started slowly defensively, with six errors in the 10 games, but hasn't committed an error in 24 of the last 25 games.
He thrilled the partisan Carolina Stadium crowd with several outstanding plays since the NCAA tournament started.
"They've grown up a lot, but they're good players," Tanner said. "You saw Joey make some big plays. He couldn't have made those plays at the beginning of the fall. He didn't understand that was a play you made. But they worked hard. Tanner was very hard on himself. He takes it personal when he has a bad day."
The maturation of the younger players helped USC rebound from a sluggish start in the SEC when the Gamecocks were swept at Kentucky and lost two of three to Florida at home.
However, since dropping the rubber game to the Gators on March 24, USC is 28-10 and carries a five-game winning streak (and a record 21 consecutive wins in the NCAA tournament) with it into TD Ameritrade Park.
"These younger guys got a little bit older and our older guys helped those younger guys mature and develop," Tanner said. "Then we started winning our share in the league (12 consecutive wins in SEC) and got a chance to go to the postseason. We couldn't be where we are today without those guys and they couldn't be where they are without our older guys. There was an understanding from day one with Marzilli, Walker, (Adam) Matthews, Roth and Price that they had to help these guys on a daily basis.
"And some days they had to protect them from me and try to get them to make a contribution. They meshed pretty good."
The younger players might not have appreciated the enormous task that faced them when they initially arrived at USC last summer, but they do now.
"We were really fortunate to have a great group of older guys to lead us and help show us the way to play ball here," English said. "We've just stepped up and tried to help the team in any way we would."
The veteran players quickly realized how talented the new players were, and wasted little time in helping them get acclimated.
"We knew we had a great group of guys coming in," Price said. "The freshmen that are starting now were a little sluggish at the beginning, but after they got a few games under their belts they started growing. Guys like myself, Michael and Adam saw them grow into the players they are now."
CWS OPENING ROUND:
Friday
Game 1 - Stony Brook (52-13) vs. UCLA (47-14), 5 p.m.
Game 2 - Arizona (43-17) vs. Florida State (48-15), 9 p.m.
Saturday:
Game 3 - Kent State (46-18) v. Arkansas (44-20), 5 p.m.
Game 4 - South Carolina (45-17) vs. Florida (47-18), 9 p.m
link: http://southcarolina.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1375154
Clearly, one of the key reasons USC was able to reach the College World Series for the third straight year was the willingness of older players such as Michael Roth, Matt Price, Evan Marzilli and Christian Walker to show the younger guys how it's done.
Such as, how to deal with demanding coach Ray Tanner.
"I've said it before, it's not easy playing for me as a newcomer," Tanner said following the Super Regional victory over Oklahoma. "It was tough on those (younger) guys. There's a process you go through, there's an initiation. You have to earn your stripes. As long as I've been coaching and as long as I'm still coaching, that's not going to change. That's the way it's supposed to be. You don't just roll in here and have anything given to you. You have to earn it."
The indoctrination starts immediately when the freshmen arrived on campus for the start of fall classes. Soon, fall practice begins and the players must quickly demonstrate that they're capable of handling the pressure of playing major college baseball.
Some fall by the wayside, some thrive.
"Sometimes, there's a setback," Tanner said. "It's two steps back and one step forward. It was tough on these guys at the beginning. It's a talented recruiting class. Sometimes when you have that, they roll in and they say, 'We're here.' They understand quickly that it's not about them. All those pats they've had on the back, it's over and done with."
Two early lessons young USC players must grasp - Tanner adores veterans that have proven themselves, and check your ego at the dugout steps.
"This team is about these older guys," Tanner said. "You'd better listen and learn and try to respect the game and play it the right way. There were days I probably set them back a little bit. But you believe that's just the way it's supposed to be."
USC started four freshmen on Opening Day: left fielder Tanner English, catcher Grayson Greiner, designated hitter Kyle Martin and shortstop Joey Pankake.
As the season progressed, English (61 starts), Greiner (48 starts; injured in practice before NCAA tournament) and Pankake (55 starts) established themselves as mainstays in the lineup, while Martin (.323 in 65 at-bats), TJ Costen (.275 in 51 at-bats) and Connor Bright (75 at-bats) contributed from time to time.
The freshmen shined the brightest in the top of the seventh inning when the suspended Game 2 of the Super Regional was resumed on Monday. With the game scoreless, Bright led off with a double against arguably Oklahoma's best relief pitcher, Steven Okert.
Costen pinch-ran for Bright and scored the game's first run moments later, when English laid down a sacrifice bunt and OU first baseman Evan Mistich inexplicably fired wide of the third-base bag in an attempt to get Costen.
English ended up on second base and eventually scored on a wild pitch with two outs.
On the mound, left-hander Jordan Montgomery was elevated to the weekend rotation and carries a 5-1 record and 4.05 ERA in 66.2 innings into the College World Series, while Evan Beal (4-4, 4.02 ERA in 47 innings) pitched meaningful innings out of the bullpen.
Nine of the 27 players on the Super Regional roster were true freshmen.
In terms of batting average, English (.306) and Pankake (.286) are the second- and fourth-leading hitters among the regulars on the team entering USC's first game of the College World Series, on Saturday against No. 1 Florida.
Martin (.323) and Costen (.275) have the highest batting averages among the reserves. Pankake started slowly defensively, with six errors in the 10 games, but hasn't committed an error in 24 of the last 25 games.
He thrilled the partisan Carolina Stadium crowd with several outstanding plays since the NCAA tournament started.
"They've grown up a lot, but they're good players," Tanner said. "You saw Joey make some big plays. He couldn't have made those plays at the beginning of the fall. He didn't understand that was a play you made. But they worked hard. Tanner was very hard on himself. He takes it personal when he has a bad day."
The maturation of the younger players helped USC rebound from a sluggish start in the SEC when the Gamecocks were swept at Kentucky and lost two of three to Florida at home.
However, since dropping the rubber game to the Gators on March 24, USC is 28-10 and carries a five-game winning streak (and a record 21 consecutive wins in the NCAA tournament) with it into TD Ameritrade Park.
"These younger guys got a little bit older and our older guys helped those younger guys mature and develop," Tanner said. "Then we started winning our share in the league (12 consecutive wins in SEC) and got a chance to go to the postseason. We couldn't be where we are today without those guys and they couldn't be where they are without our older guys. There was an understanding from day one with Marzilli, Walker, (Adam) Matthews, Roth and Price that they had to help these guys on a daily basis.
"And some days they had to protect them from me and try to get them to make a contribution. They meshed pretty good."
The younger players might not have appreciated the enormous task that faced them when they initially arrived at USC last summer, but they do now.
"We were really fortunate to have a great group of older guys to lead us and help show us the way to play ball here," English said. "We've just stepped up and tried to help the team in any way we would."
The veteran players quickly realized how talented the new players were, and wasted little time in helping them get acclimated.
"We knew we had a great group of guys coming in," Price said. "The freshmen that are starting now were a little sluggish at the beginning, but after they got a few games under their belts they started growing. Guys like myself, Michael and Adam saw them grow into the players they are now."
CWS OPENING ROUND:
Friday
Game 1 - Stony Brook (52-13) vs. UCLA (47-14), 5 p.m.
Game 2 - Arizona (43-17) vs. Florida State (48-15), 9 p.m.
Saturday:
Game 3 - Kent State (46-18) v. Arkansas (44-20), 5 p.m.
Game 4 - South Carolina (45-17) vs. Florida (47-18), 9 p.m
link: http://southcarolina.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1375154