'I love that baseball program': What Charleston head coach Chad Holbrook had to say about playing South Carolina
By the fifth or sixth inning on Thursday, Chad Holbrook's original plan was to get some of his other players at-bats. But once his team was back in front, all bets were off.
"You get to the sixth and you're like, 'Aw, to hell with that. We're here to win,'" Holbrook said. "And on both sides. We were trying to win. You go into it with the right intentions and play."
Going into the bottom of the sixth down by two runs, Charleston rallied for seven runs to take back the lead, one it would hold onto in a 12-11 win over South Carolina at Riley Park.
"When we've got eight or nine outs to get and we're beating a really damn good team, you start thinking about winning. And I'm guilty. But it's the same for those guys," Holbrook said.
"We're playing the Gamecocks in the backyard and no one's watching? Coach Mainieri's gonna try to beat my ass. And rightfully so. And we're gonna try to make it competitive and hopefully beat them. It's what baseball and competition are all about. While it was a fall game and an exhibition, it was a competitive exhibition."
It was just an exhibition game, more so a glorified scrimmage if you will. But this one meant a lot to the Cougars. They were notably left out of the NCAA Tournament field after winning 41 games, the most in Holbrook's tenure as the head coach. This served as an opportunity for his players to experience playing great competition but also showing they can do well against a respected program.
"I mean, they're good. They're physical. They've got a lot of good arms. We got a few good arms, too," Holbrook said about playing South Carolina. "We didn't manage the game like it was Game 7 of the World Series. It's a little different. It's a fall game in November. However, they're certainly very formidable. They'll be one of the better teams that we'll play all year long. I hope the competition they have will make them better, as well."
And for Holbrook, this game had deeper meaning, even though it didn't count towards anything. Holbrook was an assistant on Ray Tanner's staff at South Carolina from 2009-12, helping the Gamecocks win a pair of national championships. Once Tanner became the university's athletics director, Holbrook stepped in and was the program's head coach for the next five seasons.
In his time as South Carolina's skipper, he went 200-106 (.654) with two NCAA Super Regional appearances. But after the 2017 season, the two sides parted ways, which led him to Charleston, where he remains to this day.
"I love that baseball program," he said. "I mean, I got to witness some things that coaches never get to witness in a career. And I will always hold that program and that school in the highest honor."
Before Thursday, the last time the two teams had played came all the way back in 2018, Holbrook's first season at Charleston. Since then, South Carolina has usually played most of the other teams around the state at least once per season but not the Cougars. Until now.
The Gamecocks and Charleston will play again, only this time it will be for real when they play each other on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. It will be a regular season game taking place at Founders Park. And Holbrook hopes it's the first of many games to come.
"We should play every year," he said. "Coach Tanner taught me that when I was there. Hey, you're the head coach at South Carolina. You should play all the teams in the state of South Carolina. He thought it was his responsibility as the flagship university in the state. I hope we're back on that. I think Paul agrees with Coach Tanner in that regard."
For Charleston, who plays in the CAA, it doesn't usually get to play the same quality of opponents like it would against South Carolina. So, if the Cougars ever have a chance to play the Gamecocks, they're going to take it.
"They don't have to play us. They're going to have a strong enough schedule if they don't play us. But it means a lot for us to play them because we don't play in the SEC," Holbrook said. "And that's no disrespect to our league. But we've got some damn good teams in our league. But it's an honor to be able to play South Carolina. And I'm grateful that (Mainieri) feels the same way that we should play."
