Florida edges USC in opener; Schmidt exits early with arm stiffness

South Carolina came out on the wrong end of a pitchers’ duel that featured two projected first-round picks Thursday night in a 1-0 loss to Florida. Now the Gamecocks will closely watch the health of their ace.

Junior Clarke Schmidt left in the sixth inning after 84 pitches with what USC coach Chad Holbrook said was right forearm stiffness. He struck out two, walked three and allowed four hits and one earned run in 5 1/3 innings at McKethan Stadium.

“A kid with that kind of future, there’s no decision to be made. You get him out of the game,” Holbrook said.

Schmidt (4-2) was replaced by Reed Scott after throwing two balls and looking uncomfortable against Gators outfielder Austin Langworthy.

“My forearm was getting a little tight throughout the game,” Schmidt said. “No sharpness, no sharp pain, no tingling. That’s the positive thing I’m taking out of this. I’ve been working on my changeup grip and that might have a little something to do with it. They seem to think it’s flexor right now, so that’s a good thing. Hopefully, it’s nothing structural. I didn’t feel it on one certain pitch or anything like that. I was still low 90s so we are going to see how everything works out and hopefully everything is fine.”

Schmidt, Scott and Josh Reagan combined to allow five hits, with the relievers combining for 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

South Carolina had three hits and stranded seven runners in the loss. The Gamecocks had the leadoff batter on base twice, including a Madison Stokes double in the fifth inning, but could not scratch across a run.

“It’s very frustrating to get a well-pitched game and can’t muster up enough offense to win,” Holbrook said.

Florida starter Alex Faedo (6-1) struck out nine and allowed three hits in 8 2/3 innings. The Gators are 26-12, 9-7.

“We couldn’t really put any consistently good at-bats against him,” Holbrook said. “His stuff tonight was terrific. You could tell early in the game it was going to be a struggle to score, and one or two might win. Obviously we didn’t get that one or two.”

The only run of the game came in the fifth inning when Keenan Bell hit a two-out RBI single to score Christian Hicks from second.

The Gamecocks dropped to 23-14, 8-8 SEC in the team’s fifth one-run SEC loss of the season. The last USC win in Gainesville came in the 2011 season.

USC has lost five straight SEC series openers.

“It rips your heart out,” Holbrook said. “There are some one-run heartbreakers in there. There are some losses on the last pitch. It’s disheartening. It’s tough. It’s my responsibility. I hate it for our players. I hate it for our coaches. I hate it for our fans that support us. Hopefully it will turn around here because we’ve got good kids, we’ve got good players.”

Game 2 is 7 p.m. Friday on the SEC Network.

This story was originally published April 20, 2017 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Florida edges USC in opener; Schmidt exits early with arm stiffness."