March 5, 2016
GREENVILLE, S.C. ââ’¬” Clemson right-hander Clate Schmidt pitched 5.1 scoreless innings and combined with left-hander Pat Krall for a two-hit shutout as the Tigers defeated 13th ranked South Carolina 5-0 on Saturday afternoon at Fluor Field in the Reedy River Rivalry contest. The Gamecocks drop their first game of the season and to 10-1 on the year while Clemson improves to 7-2 for the season.
Schmidt, the brother of Gamecock right-hander Clarke Schmidt who earned the win in the series opener on Friday, was effective and did not allow a hit until the sixth inning. He struck out six and walked four to earn the win. He is 3-0 on the year. Krall pitched 3.2 scoreless innings and struck out four to earn his first save. Gamecock right-hander Braden Webb suffered the loss and is 2-1 for the season. He allowed four runs, two earned, on four hits with a career-high seven strikeouts and five walks in 4.1 innings of work.
Clemson went ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. A double by Reed Rohlman as well as walks to Eli White and Weston Wilsson loaded the bases with two outs for the Tigers. After working the count full, Tigers’ catcher Chris Okey drew a walk to score the first run of the contest. The Tigers would tag on an unearned run in the second to take a 2-0 lead. A two-run triple by Okey would give Clemson a four-run lead in the fifth inning.
Carolina threatened with one out in the sixth inning loading the bases as Dom Thompson-Williams walked, Jonah Bride doubled and John Jones walked. Krall entered for Schmidt and kept the Gamecocks at bay though as he struck out Alex Destino and Chris Cullen to keep the Gamecocks off the scoreboard. Clemson would score once more in the sixth inning on a solo homer by Chase Pinder.
GAME CHANGER
Chris Okey’s two-run triple broke open a close two-run game and doubled the Tigers’ lead to four runs.
KEY STAT
South Carolina was limited to a season-low two hits on the afternoon, a double in the sixth inning by Bride and a single in the ninth by Destino.
NOTABLES
Saturday’s loss snaps a 10-game winning streak for the Gamecocks.
Thompson-Williams and Bride have reached base in all 11 games this year for Carolina.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Chad Holbrook
“Congratluations to Clemson. (Clate Schmidt) certainly pitched well on the big stage tonight. I tip my cap to him. With all that he has been through, the way he performed was impressive. We certainly didn’t play a good baseball game today. I felt very fortunate in the fifth inning to be only behind 2-0, I thought we still had a chance to win. We just couldn’t muster much offense against their pitchers. You have to give credit to the other team. Their pitchers were better than our hitters. We will try to bounce back tomorrow.”
UP NEXT
The series concludes Sunday at Clemson. First pitch at Doug Kingsmore Stadium is 2 p.m. The contest can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.” It will also be streamed live on ESPN3.
