Middle infield “day-to-day” despite wins vs. Princeton
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After he was asked by South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner to take ground balls at second on Thursday for the first time this season, sophomore Erik Payne was surprised to see his name in the starting lineup the very next day at a position he hadn’t played since sophomore year of high school.
“He hit some balls in practice that you go, ‘Man, I’d like to have a couple of cracks up there for him,’ so it helped him get in there,” Tanner said. “Watching him take some ground balls in the middle of the week, he played primarily third since he’s been here and he played middle infield in high school [Amateur Athletic Union], he seemed to be a little bit more comfortable at second base then maybe he has at third base, although he’s improved over there. I just made the decision to throw him in there and maybe that bat will work for us.”
Tanner’s instinct proved to be correct, as Payne’s home run and double pushed the Gamecocks to a 3-1 victory over Princeton in Game 3 Sunday, sweeping the Tigers in the last non-conference series.
Payne joined TJ Costen, Connor Bright and Chase Vergason in the revolving door that has been second base this season. His three starts at second marked just the second series that the same second baseman started all three games this season. Payne doesn’t mind the move from third base or the competition.
“It’s a lot better feeling than being behind LB (Dantzler) because he can hit,” Payne said. “It’s open, I think, and I’m just trying to do my best to help the team win. Hopefully, I’ll get more opportunities there.”
Spending last season behind Adrian Morales at third, Payne struggled, and Tanner called him immature in his freshman year. But in his sophomore season, Payne did enough for Tanner to force him into the lineup. The maturity showed when Payne was given a crash course in coverages before Friday’s game and wasn’t overwhelmed by it.
“He’s much more physical now – he has a different body than he had a year ago,” Tanner said. “I kind of threw him in there because I thought he was the right kind of person. I didn’t know that he would have a pretty good weekend for us, but I did it because of the person that he is and I thought he deserved a chance. I threw him in there and he’s handled it pretty well.”
Payne was joined by Bright at shortstop, replacing freshman Joey Pankake for the weekend, in a middle infield that Tanner says is “day-to-day.” With conference season looming, Tanner doesn’t have all the answers in the middle, though he liked the chemistry between Payne and Bright.
“They have a little rapport going,” Tanner said. “They bounce around a little bit and making the routine plays, which is enough. They do that and I’m fine with it. Is that going to be our guys going forward? I don’t know, but they seem comfortable right now. They’re playing with some energy, so it’s all good.”
Tanner has talked to first baseman Christian Walker a little bit about his role in the infield as the veteran and lone returner from the last two seasons, but it’s harder for Walker to run the infield from the corner.
Walker, who went 3-for-4 in Game 2 with two RBIs, knows he can’t be a crutch from first base in the way that then-new shortstop Peter Mooney leaned on second baseman Scott Wingo last season, but he’s tried to encourage his teammates that have been in and out of the infield.
“Sometimes, they’ll strike out at the plate or get out,” Walker said. “Sometimes, you can see it in their face when they’re warming up and taking ground balls. I try to pull them aside before we take the field and tell them to forget about it and that we need to play defense.”
The Gamecocks (13-1) will get two more opportunities in midweek games against Appalachian State and Charleston Southern, respectively, to settle the shenanigans at second and shortstop before traveling to Kentucky for the start of SEC play. With no one knowing who will start before seeing the lineup the day of the game, the team has embraced the element of surprise that worked in Payne’s favor against Princeton.
“Of course, the first couple of innings, I was a little nervous,” Payne said. “I hadn’t gotten in, but once a double play happened, I kind of relaxed a little bit. You get lost in the game and you start to just play baseball.”