Memorable Opportunity for Kingston with USA Collegiate National Team
Good coaches never stop learning, and South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston enjoyed a memorable opportunity this summer after serving as an assistant coach for the USA Collegiate National Team.
“I was very excited when I was contacted about the opportunity. Of course, it’s a great honor to represent our school with Team USA, but I think it really serves a lot of purposes,” Kingston said. “Obviously you want to represent your country in the national pastime. I think it helps us in recruiting.
“When I was approached for this early in my tenure at South Carolina, I wanted to make sure that (Athletics Director) Coach (Ray) Tanner was on board with it because we’re still heavily recruiting and building this program. He mentioned how he had done it five times over the years, and he always thought it was a major asset to do it. Once he signed off on it, it was a no-brainer decision!”
Playing games against international competition in the United States, Taiwan and Japan exposed coaches and players to a lot of great baseball, even if some of the styles were different.
“The biggest differences I noticed in a short period of time was in how we use our pitchers,” Kingston said. “No. 2, the Japanese team has some fundamentals that they believe very strongly about, so a lot of their infielders and hitters look similar in how they play and do things. The American team had a lot of different styles in how they fielded a ground ball, and every hitter had a different style.
“Overall, it was a good reminder of how important the fundamentals are. The Japanese team was very fundamentally sound with how they approached offense and how they approached defense. They didn’t beat themselves and pitchers hardly walked anybody. It’s nice to watch a team that is that fundamentally sound.”
Kingston oversaw hitters and coached the catchers. He was joined on the staff by head coach Dan McDonnell (Louisville), assistant coach Tony Skole (The Citadel), pitching coach Greg Moore (St. Mary’s) and bench coach Dave Turgeon (Pittsburgh Pirates).
“We spent so much time together as a staff,” Kingston said. “We were pretty much together 24 hours per day. It was great to just feed ideas back and forth and to discuss every topic under the sun; on the field and off the field issues. It was definitely a growth experience, and you come out of there a better coach.”
“I thought our team did a nice job of remembering what they were there for; to win baseball games and represent our country in a first-class way.”
– Mark Kingston
The three and a half weeks in July with the Collegiate National Team was a bit of whirlwind process. After starting off with intra-squad scrimmages to narrow the invited players down to a selected team at Team USA headquarters in Cary, N.C., the team hosted the 8th Annual USA vs. Cuba Friendship Series, playing a series of contests with the Cuban team at various locations in North Carolina.
“We won four out of five games against Cuba, and one of the highlights was playing them on the Fourth of July,” Kingston said. “Playing in a pro park in front of a huge crowd, and it being Team USA, and then watching the fireworks afterward, that as a highlight for me. My family was able to come for that, too.
“It was great because we went from one city to the next; Charlotte, Durham, Cary, and one in Hickory. It was fun taking the game from one city to the next. The Cuban team had guys of all ages. They had some guys that were 19, and they had some guys that were probably in their mid-30s. I think USA vs. Cuba in baseball has a really cool prestige to it. Both sides really get after it. It was fun to see how they approach the game, and it was great baseball.”
After the games with Cuba, the Collegiate National Team travelled to Taipei, Taiwan, for the 19th USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series, winning two out of three.
“I had never been that far from the United States before,” Kingston said. “Getting on a plane for 14 hours straight, you watch a lot of movies and try to sleep as much as you can. Once you get there, there are some adjustments with the food, accommodations and trying to read signs and make heads or tails of what you’re looking at. It was a challenge, but it was a good life experience.
“I thought our team did a nice job of remembering what they were there for; to win baseball games and represent our country in a first-class way.”
From there, the team traveled to Matsuyama, Japan, to play the 43rd USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Stars Series. The more seasoned Japanese team won an exciting five game series, three games to two. Kingston noted that the Japanese team had a pair of outstanding pitchers, and they weren’t afraid to march the same arms out there.
“Our team was college freshmen and sophomores, and they were more juniors and seniors,” Kingston said. “It went to game five, tied at two wins each, and they prevailed. They had really good pitching, but they didn’t have the depth that we did, so they used their No. 1 starter in games one, three and five. He started all three games in a five-day span. Their No. 2 starter started games two and four. They were very high-quality pitchers, and that ended up being the difference in the series.”
Kingston noted that despite the success that week, he wouldn’t consider using the same arms so frequently.
“I have no idea how often they do that or how they train their pitchers, or even if that was just an aberration because they were playing the United States,” Kingston said. “I do know that those guys were really good!”
The team was able to do some site-seeing in Tokyo, with highlights including a visit to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
“They had a lot of American artifacts over there from when American teams went over there to play,” Kingston said. “We saw gear from Ken Griffey, Jr., and other great players. Touring Tokyo and seeing their culture was one of the highlights of the trip, but again putting on that Team USA uniform was a tremendous privilege.
“We also had a pre-series banquet in Japan. They were tremendous hosts.”
Now back in Columbia, Kingston’s focus is squarely on year three of leading the Gamecocks.
“The good thing about this whole process was that I was still able to recruit even when I was in Japan, thanks to modern technology,” Kingston said. “I’m looking forward to the coming year.”
