Everything Monte Lee said after South Carolina's Sunday defeat to Alabama

South Carolina interim head baseball coach Monte Lee spoke to the media following the team’s 7-6 loss to No. 19 Alabama on Sunday. Here’s everything he had to say.

Opening statement

“Congratulations to Alabama — pitched the ball really well today. They scored early there and put together a big inning in the first, made it tough, and then added on runs in the middle of the game.

“We had some opportunities — I think it was in the fourth and in the fifth. Had the bases loaded, one out, [Tyler] Bak lined out to second base; we didn’t score a run there. And then, had the bases loaded, nobody out, and punched out back-to-back at-bats, which is tough. But then, we hung in there. [Alex] Philpott competed for us in the bullpen, made some pitches for us. [Parker] Marlatt did a good job. And we had a great inning in the eighth there, scored four. [KJ] Scobey hit the home run. Had a couple two-strike hits and some better at-bats with two strikes — one of the things I was pleased with today: only six strikeouts — and thought we hit some balls far with two strikes. Thought our bats were better.

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“But ultimately, we needed to score runs early in the ball game when we had opportunities, and we did not do that. And we had a few too many ‘free 90s’ on the mound, and they scored. They took advantage. Obviously, they hit the ball well in the first and in the middle innings. We didn’t help ourselves. You give up seven runs; it’s going to be tough to win. You got to really swing the bat. And again, it was great to see our guys compete there at the end of the ball game and give ourselves a chance. Had the tying run on base, had the winning run at the plate, just couldn’t come up with another big hit there.

“They were the better team today. We had opportunities again to capitalize early, and we just didn’t. And we didn’t pitch it great earlier in the ball game. So, that’s a tough one.”

You mentioned Friday that, maybe, you felt like you were over-coaching them, and you backed off and had some good late innings. You said “the hay’s in the barn.” Is there anything you could really do to try to make some drastic change for these last four games?

“You know, I don’t know if there’s really a lot of changes that we can make. I mean, we’re very banged up. We don’t have very much depth whatsoever position player-wise, as far as the lineup goes. We just need our guys that have been playing for us to play better, and that’s really it.

“Look, we got swept, but some of the things that were positive about the weekend is, felt like we had better at-bats the last two days, which was good to see. Biggest concern is, we just haven’t pitched well. We haven’t gotten deep into the game and put up zeros on the mound. The tough thing is, look, when you’re always playing from behind, and your offense isn’t a power laden type of lineup — where you get down four or five runs, and you can hit a three-run homer and a two-run homer and get you back in the game quick — it makes it very, very tough.

“So, we just got to do a better job, really, in all phases of the game. Our starters can’t give up big innings in the first inning, that’s for sure. When we give up big innings early in the game, it’s challenging. You’re behind right out of the gate, and you’re trying to fight your way back into it. But all in all, we just got to find the answer on the mound and offensively. If we can continue to do some of the things we did in the last two days…

“Again, we weren’t perfect. We had opportunities in the middle of the game with runners in scoring position. We needed to take advantage of those things. But with the way that we have been scoring runs this year, if we can get the six runs a game, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win if you pitch and play defense. But we’ve had days where we pitched and played defense, and we didn’t hit. So, I’m certainly not putting one against the other there. We need to be more of a complete team all the way around.”

In the fourth inning, you guys load the bases. [Myles Upchurch], eight straight balls to walk the bases loaded. In that situation, is it the right approach to take first-pitch swings there — knowing a guy is not really hitting in the zone, but when he does, take those opportunities?

“Bak hits .340 with runners in scoring position, okay? Will [Craddock] hits about .280 with runners in scoring position. So, I would prefer Bak to swing the bat, quite honestly. And look, what did he do? He lined out. So, if he hit that ball two feet to the right, what is it? It’s a base hit, and two runs score. So, I don’t think we can question whether Bak should have taken or swung the bat in that situation. And then, once he lined out, now we have how many outs? Two. Craddock is a guy that’s got to hit early in the count because, if he gets two strikes on him, it can be challenging. He’s not a great two-strike hitter yet.

“We were taking late in the game to try to get the tying run on base. I think it depends on the game situation, and I also think it depends on who is at the plate. I try to take all of that into account, based on whether we take or not. And then, in the next inning, obviously, we had the middle of the order up, so I’m going to let those guys swing the bat and try to do something for us. So, I think it depends on who’s at the plate, and it also depends on the game situation.”

You guys have now lost eight straight. What do you try to say to the guys to try to keep them up, but also just keep them focused on what’s ahead?

“Well, it’s really challenging. It’s challenging because, anytime you cut on your phone, and you cut on social media, what are the kids going to see? I mean, the reality of, ‘We’ve lost eight straight,’ and everything that’s being put out about the kids. Look, we understand where we’re at. We understand what the expectations are, but they’re also human. And when things are just not going well for you, and you read into those things, it makes it really challenging.

“If you’re asking me, the message is, we just have to try to attack it one day at a time. Like we have to wake up and come to the ballpark and forget about what’s happened and focus on what we can do today. And that’s challenging when you’re a human, and you cut on social media, and you read what you read. It’s super hard, especially for 18- to 22-year-olds; their whole identity is based on this thing. It’s pretty tough.

“So, you ask me what to do, I think it’s just, you have to start with having a great attitude and putting together the best efforts you can as a coach. I think that’s the first thing. They got to feel welcome coming into the ballpark, and you got to try to do everything you can to make sure they look forward to coming to the field. That can be really tough when things are not going well.

“Yeah, it’s hard. It’s really hard. But you just do the very best you can to keep them upbeat. Point out the positives; try your best to point out the positives. But look, beating them down, getting on them — like, being super hard on them — and negative and those kind of things at this point in the season, you’ll lose your team if you do that. So, I’m just trying my best stay positive, keep coaching them, keep working with them, provide them with a good environment that they look forward to coming to every day.

“The biggest thing is, as a coach, just don’t freaking quit them. Just don’t quit on them. They get enough of that, so it’s my responsibility to make sure they know that I still have your back: ‘I’m still here, still believe in you. Let’s go to work.’

Last Sunday home game of the season — the significance of this loss hasn’t been lost on you — not a lot of fans, but a hearty group of fans who are here. I’m assuming a lot of these folks come to every game, and they support you guys to no end. So, what’s the message to them, regardless who the coach is, about staying behind the program?

“You know, it’s funny. I was talking about this with someone pretty close to me the other day. There’s people that the one thing that they look forward to on the weekends is coming to Founders Park and watching baseball. And that’s the people that were here today. We’re down 7-0, [Ethan] Lizama base hit through the shortstop in a two strike-count, we scored a run, and they’re standing up and clapping for him. You have people that, their whole lives, what they look forward to is Gamecock athletics. I know exactly what that feels like and what that’s all about.

“So, the first message that I would give them is, ‘Thank you so much for continuing to support the players, even in a really tough season.’ It says a lot about our fan base when you keep showing up and keep pulling for the players. And the second thing I will say to them is, ‘I’m sorry.’ I’m sorry because I’m a part of this. Look, I try to be as accountable as I can be. And we’re doing our very best. We’re doing everything we can, but it hasn’t been enough. That’s the bottom line. So, I’ll take accountability for that.

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“I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to be more consistent. We’ve had our moments, and we’ve had some games here this year where we’ve brought a lot of joy and excitement to the fan base. But look, over the last couple of weeks, it’s been really hard, and I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to find a way to win some games for them.

“I will tell them that it’s going to turn. Whoever the next leader is of the program will find a way to make this program better and get this program back to where they want it to be. And I just hope they keep showing up, keep pulling for the players and, eventually, it’ll turn.”

You were on staff the one time South Carolina went down to Hoover and won the SEC Tournament. That chance is still there. That’s, obviously, looking ahead, but how can you impart that from that experience that you had to the kids and say, “Listen this can happen?”

“I mean, I was there in 2004, when we won it. And I was also there in ’24, when we blew a couple games and had an opportunity to get to the championship if we just played a little bit better. I’ve been deep into the tournaments before. I’ve won a conference tournament championship before as a coach, so I know all about that.

“Look, quite frankly, it just takes momentum in game one. Play a good game in game one, and guess what happens? All of a sudden, you start believing in yourself. Again, you’re in a different setting, you’re in a different environment, and it’s a different season. That point, you’re in the postseason, and you’re playing for something, right? You’re playing to get into the field of 64, so there’s a lot at stake. It’s really how you choose to look at it. So, we’ll certainly start working on that message and how we can get the guys in the right frame of mind going into what looks to be just over a week from now.”

What did you think of Alex [Valentin]’s start? And you guys are dealing with injuries, and guys probably haven’t come along the way you thought, but what has not worked with Alex being a starter so far?

“Well, he’s had moments as a starter where he’s been very good. I can look at a couple starts where he’s been really good. At the end of the day, not just Alex. I mean, we haven’t been great in the starting pitching department here for the last couple of weeks. But Alex has had outings where he’s been very good.

“I think, at the end of the day, you look at the day, it’s just like this: barrel, barrel, barrel, barrel. And again, just that offensive momentum that they created in the first inning, they put up a big inning, scored three runs. When you score three runs — and I don’t even think we had a ‘free 90’ that I remember in the first inning — that’s tough. You want your starting pitchers to throw strikes, but just made some mistakes over the plate. And they’re an aggressive team, and they took advantage of it. So, that’s what happened.

“You know, he just got hit. What do you change? Do you mix more? Do you try to get them to chase more? It’s tough. You want your starters to go out there and pound the strike zone and make plays behind them. And unfortunately, today, he just caught some barrels and then kind of settled in and did a pretty good job there for a while.

So, at the end of the day, we just got to find the answer this week to get all those guys back into right frame of mind and make some adjustments with them. Next weekend is an important weekend, but we’ve got to do everything we can to get those guys ready for Hoover. So, we’ll certainly talk about it as staff and see, ‘Are there any adjustments that we can make, and are there anything that we can do to make sure, once we get to Hoover, that those guys are ready to go?'”

You had said on Thursday about Riley Goodman and how he had started to come around. He gives you a good inning yesterday. So, does that support what you’re saying? And what does that mean for him moving forward?

“He’s got to be a factor in some capacity. It’s short sample sizes, right? It’s an inter-squad and then one inning on a weekend. But it looked pretty good. It looked pretty good back-to-back days. So, I think what we have to decide is, ‘How are we going to use him?’ It’s not a matter of ‘if,’ it’s just a matter of, ‘How are we going to use him?’

“I haven’t gotten to Tuesday yet, but there’s certainly a chance that he’s probably going to pitch in some capacity. We could potentially start him or pitch him out of the ‘pen, but we need to make him a factor for Hoover. So, not sure how we do that quite yet, but he’s definitely got to be in the mix.

“Look, he’s got a fresh arm. He’s going to be chomping at the bit to get out there and compete. He’s throwing the ball over the plate, and it’s north of 95 [mph]. We don’t have those guys just rolling out there one right after the next, so he certainly can help us.”

You said yesterday you’d get a chance to talk to Luke [Yuhasz] today about what happened yesterday on the double play. What was his thought on what happened in that situation?

“He completely just blanked out mentally. And I wasn’t expecting him to give me, really, a better answer. I just asked him what happened, and he said, ‘Look, I don’t know what happened. The ball was hit, and I just mentally locked up.’ So, I didn’t feel like I needed to probably go into a deep dive on that. I just kind of left it at that.

“Look, the guy had a mental lapse. I played the game for a long time, and I’ve coached for a long time, and you don’t see it happen often. But if you do this long enough, you’re going to either do something as a player or see something as a coach that makes you just say, ‘What in the you-know-what just happened?’ And that was just one of those moments.

“But I am proud of Luke. I know that was tough yesterday, but it’s good to see him come back in the last couple days and play better for us, have better at-bats for us, make some adjustments and become a factor for us at the plate. He’s doing a better job at the plate.”

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