Grand time for Carlos Cortes in Gamecocks’ win over Auburn
South Carolina freshman Carlos Cortes picked a good time for his first home run.
The Gamecocks designated hitter, who had 36 at-bats and three RBIs coming into Saturday night’s game connected on a grand slam in the sixth inning to lead South Carolina to a 7-0 win over SEC rival Auburn.
“I was just looking for a fastball or something I could drive,” Cortes said. “I had bases loaded, 1-0 count, he couldn’t really throw me anything else, so I was just looking for one pitch, got it and was able to (get) my hands through it.”
Cortes took a 1-0 fastball from Auburn reliever Corey Herndon deep over the right-field wall.
The shot gave No. 7 South Carolina (19-7, 6-2 SEC) a 6-0 lead and gave right-handed starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt (4-0) all the cushion he needed.
“Carlos started swinging the bat the way we knew he was capable of,” South Carolina head coach Chad Holbrook said. “We pitched, played D and got some big hits from Carlos. (SEC road games) are tough and you cherish every one of them when you get a road win in this league.”
Schmidt shut out Auburn (22-7, 6-2), limiting it to a season-low five hits in an 8-inning, 111-pitch effort.
“I think Clarke Schmidt is the best guy we’ve seen all year,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said Saturday night. “I told (Holbrook) behind home plate tonight that’s by far the best outing we’ve seen yet.”
Schmidt has now has three double-digit strikeout performances this season and picked up his eighth career quality start against an SEC opponent Saturday night.
“My fastball had life the whole game,” Schmidt said. “It was pretty hard and had good run on it. I was throwing it where I wanted to. I threw a lot of good changeups and I was happy with this performance.
Cortes finished with five total RBIs with the home run and his first triple in the fifth inning, driving in Jacob Olson for the game’s first run.
Auburn freshman Davis Daniel took his first career loss. The right-hander surrendered four runs over 5 1/3 innings in a 93-pitch effort.
The teams will meet Sunday for the rubber game of weekend series. The Gamecocks will send sophomore Adam Hill (1-3, 2.15) to the mound with Auburn coach Butch Thompson still debating on his starting pitcher. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
South Carolina | ||||||
ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k | |
Hopkins cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bride 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Williams 1b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Destino lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Olson rf | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Cortes dh | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
Tolbert 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Taylor c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Stokes ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
TOTALS | 31 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 7 |
Auburn | ||||||
ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k | |
Todd cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Estes rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Jarvis ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Robert 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Anthony 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Logan c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
McGuffin lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ingram dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Holland 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
TOTALS | 28 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 12 |
USC | 000 | 024 | 001 | — | 7 |
Auburn | 203 | 000 | 000 | — | 0 |
DP—USC 3; Auburn 2. LOB—USC 1; Auburn 4. 2B—Olson; Holland, W. 3B—Cortes. HR—Cortes. HBP—Bride. CS—Blair; Tolbert; Taylor.
USC | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Schmidt W, 4-0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
Bowers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Auburn | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Daniel L, 2-1 | 5 1/3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
Herndon | 2/3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Klobostis | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Umpires — HP: Mark Chapman 1B: Perry Costello 2B: Jeff Wright 3B: Ray Gregson. T — 2:34. A — 4,096.
This story was originally published April 1, 2017 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Grand time for Carlos Cortes in Gamecocks’ win over Auburn."