Minutes after South Carolina was eliminated from the SEC Tournament last week all three Gamecocks designated to speak to the media—Mark Kingston, Brady Allen and Wes Clarke—all acknowledged the next few days would be spent focusing on the offense.

The Gamecocks were fresh off a 9-3 loss to Alabama after struggling offensively down the stretch and have spent the last six days taking a deep breath away from games but reemphasizing some situational baseball before the NCAA Tournament.

“From a baseball standpoint it was fundamental baseball, working on the fundamentals and the things that may not show up on box scores but could win you a game: base running, getting a bunt down, situational hitting, defensive situations,” Mark Kingston said. “We worked on all the things that could help win us baseball games.”

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The Gamecocks finished their conference slate going 16 in their final five series and the SEC Tournament and playing four top 16 seeds and three of the tournament’s top eight national seeds.

In that stretch they struggled with runners on base and hitting with runners in scoring position, something they’ve worked on the last week since coming back from Hoover.

“We’re going to look to keep hitting the ball hard and having better at-bats and not striking out as much,” Andrew Eyster said. “That’s going to be the main thing this weekend. When we put the ball in play we’re a great offense. Keep doing that.”

Because the semester is over, there are no NCAA time constraints for practicing, which gives the Gamecocks more time to do on-field work while also getting weight room time as well.

Not having games to play, Eyster said, helped heading into this weekend.

“I think a big thing for us is getting fresh and resting. We’ve still been working hard on the field and the weight room. But we don’t have to be on the field for four hours for a game everyday,” he said. “As much as we would’ve liked to stay in Hoover and been in the tournament longer it’s been a nice thing to rest up and get our bodies fresh. I think it’s going to be the biggest thing for us going into the tournament.”

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Pitchers were also able to take almost two weeks off from pitching in a game, instead having longtime weekend starters like Thomas Farr and Brannon Jordan a chance to rest their arms.

“It’s been really good. It’s been great to practice and have some consistent days of just practicing with your teammates, going over the little things and getting ready,” Brett Kerry said. “This little bit of rest is going to benefit us and it’ll show whenever we play Friday.”

Now the Gamecocks will have to show what progress they’ve been able to make starting Friday as they host Virginia (noon, ESPN2) and get things started in this weekend’s regional.

“It’s getting our strength back, getting our health back and working on the fundamental parts of the game,” Kingston said. “Those will come up in regionals, super regionals and Omaha. The margin now is going to be very slim. We just have to be on point with all the finer details of the game.”

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