MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama baseball head coach Mark Calvi recently sat down with USAJaguars.com to recap the 2017 season. 

Highlights from the first part of a two-part interview are below.

Do you feel the team lived up to its potential this season?
"It did. There was a lot of excitement coming in to the year, the only concern was we had so many new pitchers. We lost a two-time Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and two-time All-American in Kevin Hill. Basically, we lost three of our four starting pitchers, our whole bullpen – we lost 11 or 12 guys who contributed. We lost 75-85 percent of our innings pitched and our wins, but I also thought we had some talent coming in. The difficulty of our schedule and a couple of setbacks in terms of injuries and illnesses, and there we were through 20 or 25 games just a couple of games over .500. We were heading into league play, and overall from an optics standpoint it didn't look good. But there were just some categories there where we lost some close games, and if we could figure out the bullpen as far as who goes where – then (Nick) DeSantis got hurt. It was just when I decided that DeSantis and (Matt) Peacock were going to be innings seven through nine that he got hurt. After that we had to reshuffle the deck, and Peacock's role became where if we had a chance to win a ballgame in innings seven through nine then we had to have him in there. So we had to use him a little bit differently. Then after all of the illnesses and injuries, we were finally able to get our lineup on the field. Randy (Bell) settled in to the Friday-night role, and Thomas Huston helped us. There were some guys who really stepped up – Andy Arguelles gave us more than you would expect out of a freshman, and of course Matt Peacock was phenomenal. Tyler Carr had like five innings pitched through 10 games, and we decided to start him at Mississippi State. He won seven ballgames for us this year."

When do you feel the team's chemistry started clicking?
"We took off really at Georgia Southern. We had just lost at Southeastern Louisiana; we didn't play well at all that night. But we knew we had a good team, we just had to get the pitching right and settle in some roles and that's what happened. Once guys start understanding their roles, then you start playing as a team. They start focusing more on the team's accomplishments than their own individual accomplishments. That was probably the biggest shift right there, starting with league play. Their focus became on winning, and not on at-bats and playing time. That alone, from a chemistry standpoint, helped us win a couple of games – just the selflessness of the team. And they knew they had something. It didn't take them long. It was at Georgia Southern that they realized they were a little bit different as a team; they came together and became more of a team, and they saw how powerful it can be. I felt that even though we were lacking in some areas due to some injuries, that if we came together as a team and played for the right reasons the rest of the way out that the team was good enough to overcome any setbacks that we had taken on. It was leaders like Cam Cummings, Matt Bolger, Eddie Paparella – the guys who didn't play all the time but had the greatest attitudes and all about the team and winning. They showed up for all the right reasons every single day. They were as important as guys who played every day from a standpoint of leadership, chemistry and energy – all that stuff matters."

How did you feel the team was playing entering the final third of the regular-season schedule?
"I liked it. You get more RPI points for winning on the road, but it was just a matter of winning. We didn't have that many RPI games left on the schedule at that point; the last month we had Mississippi State and LSU, but the rest were home games which you have to win. The schedule favored us down the stretch. We beat Mississippi State at home and that was a big RPI game. Our record at home the second half of the season, especially in conference games, was good. We were supposed to have had a home series with Liberty earlier in the year, but there was a scheduling conflict with them and we had to cancel. So we went to Pensacola (Fla.) that weekend and lost two out of three games in a very good tournament. I think being on the road as much as we were really lent itself to the chemistry and cohesiveness that our guys found around game 25. They had spent so much time with each other the first month of the season, you get to develop some bonds and relationships with players that maybe would have taken the whole year to develop otherwise. The rewards, as I look back on it, far outweighed the risk. I thought it was great that we were on the road as much as we were. Did I do it by design? No, but I really think the positives that came out of that were our guys willing to play for their teammates and not themselves."

What did that chemistry do for the team in the come-from-behind win at LSU?
"I felt great about the team about where we were at mentally before that win at LSU. It's not like that win at LSU gave us the confidence to think we could do it; our guys knew we could do it. They had confidence in their ability and were prepared through the difficulty of the non-conference schedule. It was the toughest non-conference schedule in the Sun Belt Conference. At the halfway point in the season, our guys had seen a lot and they weren't going to see anything on the baseball field that was going to surprise them. Being down 5-1 at LSU was super uncomfortable. And you know the wolves are always at the door in college baseball, especially in midweek (games). But you're on the road at LSU, they have five runs through two innings and you have to get them out 24 more times. We had dug quite the hole for ourselves, but there was zero panic from the coaches or players more importantly. That game just solidified who this team knew they were; it confirmed to them that they were right about their teammates, the team and the program."

In the second and final part of the interview, which will be released next week on USAJaguars.com, Calvi discusses the Jaguars' postseason run and looks ahead to the 2018 campaign.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Dugout Club, the baseball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. Members enjoy all games from inside the Stadium Club with climate control, private restrooms, private concessions and access to listen to the radio broadcast. All donations to the Dugout Club go directly to support the South Alabama baseball program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/dugoutclub