A season ago, Auburn and Texas A&M each had dismal baseball campaigns, failing to reach the NCAA tournament. This year, both the Aggies and Tigers advanced to the College World Series, combining to win nearly 90 games. USC head coach Mark Kingston believes his team is poised to make a similar turnaround, utilizing the same game plan.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday for the first time since the Gamecocks completed a 27-28 year that did not include a trip to the postseason, Kingston voiced plenty of optimism about what he believes is ahead for USC baseball.
“Obviously anxious to really move forward and the last month or so has been very productive for our program,” Kingston said in opening up the press conference. “It’s going to be a lot better than what this season was. I feel very, very good about what our roster is going to look like next year.”
With regards to the Aggies and Tigers, Kingston says those two programs mixed together the perfect recipe for a quick turnaround.
“They made the biggest jumps of any team in the country, and they did it via the portal, and the portal’s not going to go away. We’re signing some really good guys out of that portal that are going to really help us.”
Kingston was also asked about his postseason meeting with USC athletics director Ray Tanner, the many changes in college baseball over the last decade, and whether he could make any comparisons between his team and the Ole Miss squad that just won the national championship.
