COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina head baseball coach Mark Kingston has had quite an eventful sixth season in charge of the Gamecock dugout.
His team was rolling along and after sweeping Florida in April, Carolina was ranked as high as third nationally.
Since then, injuries and a dip in execution have led to a 5-13 record since that sweep of the Gators.
But head coach Mark Kingston has been able to keep a fairly consistent approach through the peaks and valleys of 2023 and that will be his mindset this week when his team hosts Central Connecticut State in its regional opener at Founders Park.
In fact, with the start of the NCAA regionals, Kingston wants his team to reset and think of its as the first game of a new season.
"It's a new opening day," Kingston said.
"We're going to prepare like it's opening day. We're going to clear their minds like it's opening day. We had a pretty good opening day this year if you recall.
"Anything that's happened up to this point for everybody else in the country is meaningless. Now it's about how you play moving forward."
The coach added that in spite of the "go or go home" scenario that will face teams in the post-season from this moment on, he wants his team to enjoy the week and take that attitude to the field.
"There's no pressure," he said.
"We're not trying to land on the moon right now. We're trying to go play baseball, have a lot of fun doing it, This is what kids dream of doing. We're not going to take that away. We're not going to add pressure to them. We're going to encourage them to own the moment and just have a blast."
The Gamecocks will take on Central Connecticut State Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
North Carolina State and Campbell face off in the first game at 1:00 p.m.